1870 or 1871

Green Park, London

French, 1840 - 1926

This small painting is one of two park scenes Claude Monet made in London in the winter of 1870–71. Depicting wet fields and muddy paths bisecting Green Park and the grand edifices of Piccadilly on its edge, the panoramic view looks toward Hyde Park Corner. Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington, is identifiable at the far end by the bulbous shape of an equestrian statue honoring the duke and his defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. Monet used dashes of black and gray paint to suggest the couples, nannies, and other groups sitting and walking through the park on a misty, overcast day. The French artist had moved to London with his wife and young son in the fall of 1870 to avoid the Franco-Prussian War. It was the first of several occasions in which he found inspiration in the city’s vaporous atmosphere.