Claude Monet's painting, "The Magpie," is one that exudes the very essence of peace and quietude. He has captured a moment of absolute stillness in the wintry French countryside. A solitary magpie sits atop the ramshackle gate, surrounded by a stone wall which is, like the trees, covered in a blanket of snow. Looking at the blue-grey shadows that stretch upon the almost undisturbed ground, you can feel the chill of this winter morning. As I look I expect to see my breath, clo