Jardin

In the spring of 1876 the Impressionists put on their second group show in Paris, in the dealer Durand-Ruel's rooms on the rue Le Peletier, and most of the reviews were hostile. Monet was living out at Argenteuil then, a town on the Seine about 20 minutes by train from the city, and the garden he painted that year was one he looked after himself. Camille, his wife, sits in the lower left corner, small enough to miss among the flowers, and two hollyhocks hold the right-hand side. There is no sky in the picture at all. It stayed out of public view for most of the century that followed. The Hermitage entered it into its permanent holdings only in 2001, and it hangs now in the General Staff building across the square from the Winter Palace.