Monet’s London
Monet trained his view on the city’s Houses of Parliament on the banks of the Thames and painted their spires in “smoky atmospherics”…
London at the turn of the last century was enveloped in a pervasive fog. Visiting French artist Claude Monet trained his view on the city's Houses of Parliament on the banks of the Thames and painted their spires in 'œsmoky atmospherics,' said Georgette Gouveia in the Westchester, N.Y., Journal'“News. It was a 'œmore personal, abstract style' for the celebrated impressionist, and once he exhibited his London pictures in 1904, he inspired other continental painters to come to London as well. In a 1903 version of Houses of Parliament, Effect of Fog, a sunset creates a high-contrast purple-and-orange glow, while in a 1904 painting of the same subject, the towers 'œrise like a phantom, enveloped in a milky lavender haze.'
The dark, hazy Thames visions of British artists J.M.W. Turner and James McNeill Whistler preceded Monet, however, said Lance Esplund in The New York Sun. London was the busiest port city in the West, and by the end of the 19th century it was full of factories, docks, bridges, and steamships. 'œIt was also filthy, smelly with raw sewage, and steaming with fog and smog,' which, paradoxically, led to Monet's famously pretty paintings. Today, the fluttery pastel brush strokes of impressionist paintings seem to be 'œcalming, almost nostalgic.' But in its day, they reflected 'œthe rapid speed, continual change, and anxiety of the modern city.'
It's exactly that sanitizing of difficult times that can make Monet's work difficult to swallow, said Mark Stevens in New York. 'œThe very idea of Monet sometimes makes me want to kick a golden retriever'; his aura and authority so heavily relies on 'œclotted clichés.' The industrial Thames didn't need to be so purplish. Whistler's paintings, for instance, display an 'œintense, descriptive realism.' Monet's vision is essentially that of the self-absorbed artist, an individual in search of his own idiosyncratic mood, which always overwhelms the visual evidence.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The New York Times
The Thames (1876)
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Sex, drugs, violence'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Princess of Wales returns to work in first meeting of 2024
Speed Reed Early Years project has been the 'cornerstone' of Catherine's charitable work
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Female authors light up the Booker Prize shortlist
The Week Recommends This year’s writers have tackled wide-ranging subjects from espionage to space travel
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
If/Then
feature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.
By The Week Staff Last updated