I’m at Kew, taking advantage of this exceptional summer to throw myself headlong into my plein air studies in this sunning park at Kew, ah, dear friend, what trees! What lawns! What lovely imperceptible undulations of the countryside! It’s a dream
- Camille Pissarro

Kew Gardens was painted during a celebratory period of Camille Pissarro’s life, as he travelled to London from May to August 1892 for the marriage of his son Lucien to Esther Bensusan. During this period he stayed in the village of Kew near Richmond, a suburb in the southwest of London. In the present composition, Pissarro masterfully manipulates the landscape, dividing it into planes with each delineated in loose, exploratory brushwork.

Another watercolour from this series, Pond at Kew Gardens, 1892 in the collects ion of the Detroit Institute of Arts.