The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil

Monet moved to Argenteuil in 1871, just back from sitting out the Franco-Prussian war in London, and over the next six years he painted around 200 views of the town. It sat a short train ride from Paris and was filling up with factories and weekend sailors. For this one he walked past all that to a quiet side-channel of the Seine, cut off from the main river by a wooded island downstream. A pale winter sky rests on the still water, a few buildings just visible through the bare trees. He was working outdoors and fast, letting the reflections carry much of the composition. The far bank and its mirror image meet so evenly that the waterline nearly disappears.