KEITH CHRISTIANSEN: Conservator Charlotte Hale:

CHARLOTTE HALE: This strikingly abstract picture is one of 24 that Monet painted of a group of poplars on the River Epte. As in his grain stacks, Monet was trying to capture fleeting atmospheric effects by painting the same motif at different types of day, different weather conditions, different seasons.

KEITH CHRISTIANSEN: To capture a particular moment in its full complexity, Monet painted the poplars from a flat-bottomed boat that was specially fitted with grooves to hold his canvases.

CHARLOTTE HALE: He would work on a painting as long as the effect that he was seeking was there. It could've been as soon as the sun left a certain leaf. As soon as it ended, he would set that canvas aside, pick up the next canvas, and work on that. You could imagine it was extremely demanding work.

KEITH CHRISTIANSEN: In fact, an observer once saw Monet become overwhelmed with frustration and throw all of his materials into the river. We see the image from Monet’s vantage point on the boat. And what a powerful, almost abstract composition he creates by anchoring the fleeting effects of light and color on the tree trunks reaching to the very top of the canvas, their forms continued in their shimmering reflection in the water.

CHARLOTTE HALE: As a conservator, I'm struck by Monet's extremely sound technique, despite the practical difficulties and the painting's exceptional state of preservation, so that we're seeing it very much as it looked when it left his studio.