In the final decade of his life, Pissarro concentrated on views of Paris, producing works that were among the most commercially successful of his whole career. This image was painted from his hotel window close to the Opéra in the north of Paris during the winter of 1897-1898. Pissarro used rapid, broken brush strokes to evoke the movement of pedestrians, carriages, omnibuses and wheelbarrows in the busy street below. Pissarro often represented the same motifs under different light and weather conditions. In this scene, shafts of afternoon light cross the pedestrian island, but he also painted two other views that show effects of morning sun and afternoon rain.