Pond at Montgeron

This is one of four decorative panels commissioned by the financier Ernest Hoschede, amongst the first patrons of the Impressionists. Together with three other works by Monet ("Corner of the Garden at Montgeron", St Petersburg, Hermitage; "Turkeys", Paris, Louvre; "The Hunt", Paris, priv. coll.) it was intended to adorn the large salon of Hoschede's country chateau, Rottenburg, at Montgeron. The works were created at the very height of Impressionism. Setting themselves the aim of conveying a brief moment in the changing existence of nature, the Impressionists filled their works with vibrant light and air. For these masters of plein-air painting, the symbol of the dynamism and changeability of nature was the broken, rippling, transient reflection in water, and this it is which forms the central theme of this landscape. It is possible that the barely noticeable silhouette of a woman with a fishing-rod is Hoschede's wife Alice, later to become the second wife of the artist.