Monet came to London in 1871 as a refugee from the Franco-Prussian war. This view of the Thames depicts the Pool of London with the Customs House on the right and London Bridge in the background. Brought up at Le Havre, Monet was fascinated by maritime views and had preferred to work out of doors, 'en plein air', since the 1850s. In 1868 Emile Zola enthused: 'He has sucked the milk of our age...He loves the horizons of our cities, the grey and white patches which the houses make against the light sky.'