Kroll studied with John Twachtman (see the Smith Gallery) in New York, completing his student years in Paris after 1908. Returning in 1910, he became friends with two important American realists, George Bellows and Robert Henri.

This painting conveys Kroll’s knowledge of Cézanne. Yet, it also signals his shift from a more modernist style to a more realist one. Here, he achieves a striking contrast between the tonal cityscape—evocative of Twachtman’s winter scenes—and the vivid hue of the curtain framing the window with luscious, ripe fruit on its ledge.