Camille Pissarro and his family moved to an eighteenth century house in Louveciennes in the Spring of 1869. Located just outside of Paris, Louveciennes was a hub for artists, with Renoir, Sisley and Monet all spending time painting the village. In 1871, having returned from a short sojourn in London, Pissarro created at series of paintings of Louveciennes at different times of day and temporal conditions.

In ‘Les Arbres sur le plateau, effet d'automne, paysage à Louveciennes’ Pissarro studies the change of seasons as the green summer leaves turn with the descent of autumn. He uses an emotive palette that captures the subdued autumnal light that spreads a blueish hue across the canvas. At the centre stand a group of trees, and while nature may be the focus of this painting it is not devoid of human presence. Here, a figure strolls out of the painting down the path, with a house behind them nestled in the trees. Pissarro is celebrated for his realistic depictions of every day rural life and the relationship between nature and its inhabitants.

The first half of the 1870s is Pissarro's most celebrated creative period, with the works he produced now considered to be among the most accomplished of his career. Paintings from his group of 1871 Louveciennes paintings are in public collections, most particularly: ‘Allée dans le parc de Marly’ in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid and ‘Route à Louveciennes, effet de neige et soleil’ at the Dallas Museum of Art.