This is one of three views of the Parc Monceau in Paris that Monet painted in the spring of 1876. Situated on the boulevard de Courcelles and surrounded by fashionable town houses, the park was planned in the late eighteenth century in the form of an English garden for Philippe d'Orléans. For this picture, which was shown in the 1877 Impressionist exhibition, Monet positioned his easel so that the composition would be framed by the vegetation at the sides and the houses in the background. He also painted two views of the park in 1878, both looking toward the buildings visible at the left in this painting; one of them is in the Museum's collection (59.142).