fascination with perspective, movement and nature, using these elements to compose a landscape of unparalleled beauty.

In 1886, as Claude Monet set his easel atop the hills of Giverny, his once-unified group of artists was facing a dramatic rift at the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition. Camille Pissarro, captivated by the emerging divisionist techniques of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, championed their inclusion in the show. The Divisionists’ bold, calculated brushwork stood in stark defiance of Impressionism’s fleeting visions. Monet, alongside Renoir, Sisley and Caillebotte, refused to participate, marking the final chapter of the Impressionist collective.

Amid this upheaval, Monet stood firm. “I am still an Impressionist and will always remain one,” he proclaimed. Yet, in Vue du village de Giverny, a subtle transformation is evident. Here, Monet remains devoted to atmosphere and light but also embraces a structured, almost abstract interpretation of his beloved landscape. The landscape, a hillside just northeast of Giverny, a short walk from the home he shared with Alice Hoschedé and their eight children, is presented in interlocking forms. The rooftops and treetops coalesce into rhythmic patterns of color and texture and the foreground bursts with the clustered rooftops of the Ferme de la Côte, owned by the proprietors of the nearby Hôtel Baudy—a favored haunt of American artists drawn to Giverny’s pastoral charm. In the distance, the soft blue silhouettes of the Bennecourt hills stretch across the horizon, punctuated by the meandering Seine.

Monet knew this land intimately. He often wandered the countryside, canvases tucked under his arm, as he traced the paths of winding streams and fields. Months before completing Vue du village de Giverny, Monet had painted the same hillside under snow. By summer, his perspective shifted. He climbed higher, tilting his gaze downward, transforming the rooftops into intersecting lines and flickering reds and pinks. The landscape beyond dissolved into horizontal bands—fields, forests and distant hills rendered in cool tones that hum beneath a lavender sky.

Quintessentially Monet, this composition stands among the artist’s finest achievements. Remarkably, this painting surpasses 80% of Monet's works from this prolific period in scale. Comparable works from the same era—including Woman with a Parasol at the Musée d’Orsay and Meadow in the Sun at Giverny at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston—are celebrated as iconic masterpieces and remain highly coveted by collectors and institutions alike.