Snow Scene at Argenteuil

Brown wheel tracks curve through the snow towards the distant buildings. Small figures make their way along the road, while the horizon dissolves into pale mist. The scene feels slow, despite its position near a railway station. Claude Monet, a French painter associated with Impressionism, lived at Argenteuil outside Paris during the 1870s. He made this picture in the snowy winter of 1874–75. The growing suburb supplied him with streets, factories, bridges and river scenes as well as quieter views. Here, snow and fog soften the signs of modern development. White, blue and grey dominate the surface, with pink tones warming parts of the view. The paint is thicker on the road in front than in the more distant areas. Compare those foreground marks with the barely defined buildings farther away. Monet describes both the weight of snow underfoot and the difficulty of seeing through winter air. The curving tracks keep a route visible even where the ordinary street almost disappears.