The Entrance to the Grande Rue at Argenteuil, Winter

The winter of 1874 into 1875 was a cold one, and Monet, then living in the town of Argenteuil just downriver from Paris, went out to work in it. He came back with a whole run of snow scenes, something like 18 of them, painting the same few streets and riverbanks near his house under shifting falls of snow and grey light. This is one of them, looking down a road as it enters the town, the ground white and the sky low and heavy. Argenteuil gave Monet his most settled years, the Seine and its sailboats close by and other Impressionists coming out to paint beside him. Snow handed him something summer could not, a near-colourless scene where the faint blues and violets in the white did all the work.