Boulevard des Capucines

Claude Monet captured the dramatic, plunging view of the bustling street of the fashionable Boulevard des Capucines as seen from the second-floor window of the famous photographer Nadar's apartment. Monet's Boulevard embodies the hallmarks of classic Impressionism: modern, urban subject matter; bright, pastel hues; flickering, broken brushwork that suggests dynamic movement; attention to the effects of light and atmosphere; and a sketch-like painting presented as a finished picture. The overall effect of energy and movement found some admirers when a similar version was shown at the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874. Others were shocked by the blurry, imprecise forms dubbed by one writer a...