Valley of the Creuse (Sunlight Effect)

Valley of the Creuse (Sunlight Effect) was painted in early 1889 when Monet joined the poet Gustave Geffroy at Fresselines in the Creuse département of central France, drawn by the bleak winter landscape of the narrow valley. He worked intensively on a series of views down the valley to the confluence of the Grande and Petite Creuse rivers, racing against the change of season: in a famous episode, he hired workers to strip the new spring leaves from a stand of oaks so he could finish a canvas showing them winter-bare. The Creuse valley series was exhibited at Petit's gallery in 1889 in combination with Rodin's sculptures.

The valley's steep sides create a V-shaped recession into the distance, the bare winter vegetation rendered in deep purples, ochres, and browns that Monet found in the winter landscape. The sunlight effect creates warm, golden light striking the upper valley slopes, contrasting with the cool shadows of the gorge floor.