Les Tilleuls à Poissy (The Lindens of Poissy)

Claude Monet

Oil on canvas

Private Collection

Les Tilleuls à Poissy depicts the view from the window of the Villa Saint-Louis in Poissy, where Monet resided from December 1881 until April 1883, looking out over the linden trees lining the Cours du 14-Juillet with the rooftops of old Poissy visible behind them. Long shadows cast by the trees and a warm golden light suffusing the houses suggest a late afternoon scene, most likely painted in the spring of 1882. Executed in Monet's characteristic Impressionist manner—with loose, expressive brushwork and a keen sensitivity to the play of natural light—the canvas belongs to a small group of just four views Monet made of the town. It is catalogued as no. 747 in the Wildenstein Monet Catalogue Raisonné and was exhibited in the National Galleries of Scotland's 2003 exhibition Monet: The Seine and the Sea, 1878–1883.