Street in Vernon

Theodore Clement Steele's Street in Vernon from 1886 — probably Vernon-sur-Seine in Normandy, near Giverny — belongs to the period of his European studies when he was absorbing French Impressionism at its source. Vernon was a small town visited by American painters in the orbit of Giverny and Monet's community, and Steele's street scene reflects the fresh plein-air observation that direct contact with that environment encouraged. The Indianapolis Museum of Art holds this alongside his later Indiana subjects as documentation of his European formation.

The Normandy street is rendered with the fresh observation of an American painter discovering the specific quality of French provincial light. Steele's evolving Impressionist approach handles the village architecture and summer light with the directness of outdoor painting. His palette is lighter and more varied than his Munich period would have produced.