The Valley of Arconville

One of the first American artists to paint in Giverny, France (northwest of Paris), Theodore Robinson drew upon the teachings of the region’s most famous resident, Claude Monet, in his vibrant compositions. Using layered, broken brushwork, Robinson foregrounded the slope of the hill, leading the eye from the figure at right across the Valley of Arconville (southeast of Paris). Capturing the effects of light on the landscape like Monet and other progressive French painters, Robinson nonetheless rendered his forms with a measure of solidity that was more typical of American artists who worked in an Impressionist style.