Cours d'Eau, Crozant shows a rocky stretch of river running through the upper valley of the Creuse, the watercourse strewn with pale boulders and broken into touches of blue, violet, white and pink across the foreground. On the right bank a tree in full autumn colour rises against the sky, its orange and red foliage carried down into the reflections crossing the water. Beyond it the far bank climbs into mauve and blue hills, where a low arched stone bridge and a group of pale buildings sit beneath a broad, lightly clouded sky. Guillaumin builds the scene from short, separated strokes of largely unmixed pigment, setting warm orange against cool blue and violet throughout the composition.

Painted around 1900, the work belongs to the extended series that Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin produced around Crozant, in the Creuse département of central France. One of the original Impressionists and a participant in six of the eight group exhibitions, Guillaumin won 100,000 francs in the state lottery in 1891, which allowed him to leave his post with the Ponts et Chaussées and paint full-time. He returned to the Creuse valley year after year and is recognised as the leading figure of the École de Crozant, known for his intense, high-keyed use of colour. Cours d'Eau, Crozant is a characteristic example of this central French landscape subject, made at the height of his engagement with the region.