Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain

By 1897 Pissarro was in his late sixties and his eyes could no longer take the wind and dust of painting outdoors. So he took rooms high up in Paris and painted the city through the window instead. This view looks down from the Grand Hotel du Louvre onto the square by the Theatre-Francais and along the rue Saint-Honore on a wet afternoon. The street is dark with rain, the carriages and umbrellas blurred, the wet pavement catching the light. He painted a whole series from this single window, coming back to it in different weather and at different hours of the day.