This pastel drawing shows the distant buildings of the railway station in the village of Veneux-Nadon where Sisley was living. He often gave his pictures a title based on a particular ‘effect’. Here he focuses on the frozen winter landscape surrounding the railway station. The close cropping of the scene gives the impression that it was observed through a window. The composition is very geometric: the bare sides of walls, railings and roof eaves run horizontally, while the slender trees and fence poles cut vertically through the scene. The blanket covering of white snow has obliterated many of the features of the landscape, making these uncovered forms stark and more visible. Sisley depicted this scene a number of times in the early 1880s.