Valley of the Petite Creuse

Valley of the Petite Creuse belongs to Monet's February–May 1889 campaign in the Creuse département of central France alongside the Gustave Geffroy visit. The Petite Creuse is a tributary of the Creuse river, and Monet painted both rivers in the steep valley landscape, exploring the particular quality of winter light in this bare, austere landscape that differed markedly from his Normandy coast and Giverny garden subjects. The exhibition of the Creuse series alongside Rodin's sculpture at Georges Petit's gallery in June 1889 was a celebrated moment in the French avant-garde's assertion of modernity.

The valley creates a spatial recession marked by the curving line of the river below the steep scrubby slopes. Winter vegetation is rendered in purples, ochres, and warm browns, the bare trees indicated with direct dark strokes. The water reflects the pale sky. The palette is more restrained and earthy than Monet's coastal or garden work.