Claude Monet
Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect with Smoke
1902
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 26 x 39 3/4 in. (66 x 101 cm.)
Credit Line
The Helen and Abram Eisenberg Collection
Object Number
1976.38
Unlike many of his predecessors and contemporaries who produced realistic images of the Thames that often depicted the industrial and social aspects of the city, Monet’s paintings of the river show his subjective response to London’s modern, but seemingly timeless, atmosphere. Although he visited the British capital in the 1880s and 1890s, Monet had not painted it since he sought refuge there during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871. As early as December 1891, Monet’s friend Camille Pissarro reported, “Everyone is awaiting with impatience his [Monet’s] series of London impressions.”
In his three separate painting campaigns in London between 1899 and 1901, Monet concentrated only on the Thames, working on several dozen canvases at once to capture the fleeting effects of the changing light.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1976; The Baltimore Museum of Art, on loan, 1967-1976 (L.67.5.9); Mrs. Abram Eisenberg, Baltimore, by purchase, c. 1923; Sale A.B. Emmons, New York, Plaza Hotel, 14-15 January 1920, no. 34 (Seaman); Arthur B. Emmons, Newport, United States by purchase from Durand-Ruel, 1911; Durand-Ruel by purchase from Monet, October 1905.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Masterworks from the BMA and Maryland Private Collections", January 15-February 10, 1963.
Hayward Gallery, London, "The Impressionists in London", January 3-March 11, 1973, no. 17, p. 44.
Auckland City Art Gallery (N.Z.), "Claude Monet-painter of light", April 29-June 9, 1985, cat. no. 29, p. 98, ill. (color) p. 99; circulated to Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, through September 1985.
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga., "Monet in London", Oct. 9, 1988-Jan. 8, 1989, fig. 11, p. 16.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Modernism: Monet to Matisse from the Museum's Collection", October 13, 1991-January 19, 1992.
BMA, "The Triumph of French Painting, Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse", 3/12-7/16/2000, no.34 pp. 108-109 ill.; circulated to The Philbrook Museum of Art, The Norton Museum of Art, Dayton Art Institute, The Royal Academy of Arts, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, through 1/6/2002.
Sona K. Johnson, BMA, Baltimore, "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art", circulated by Brain Trust to Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, January 11-February 16, 2003; Sakura City Museum of Art, Chiba, February 27-March 30, 2003; Okazaki City Museum, April 5-May 18, 2003; Suntory Museum, Osaka, May 24-July 6, 2003; Miyazaki Prefectural Museum, July 12-August 17, 2003.
"Claude Monet and Modernist London: Reflections on the Thames", Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, Florida, January 16, 2005 through April 17, 2005; tour to Brooklyn Museum of Art, June 29, 2005 - September 4, 2005; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 2, 2005 - January 31, 2006.
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, "Imagining Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Subject, Sequence, Series", October 6, 2018 - January 6, 2019.
Hayward Gallery, London, "The Impressionists in London", January 3-March 11, 1973, no. 17, p. 44.
Auckland City Art Gallery (N.Z.), "Claude Monet-painter of light", April 29-June 9, 1985, cat. no. 29, p. 98, ill. (color) p. 99; circulated to Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, through September 1985.
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga., "Monet in London", Oct. 9, 1988-Jan. 8, 1989, fig. 11, p. 16.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Modernism: Monet to Matisse from the Museum's Collection", October 13, 1991-January 19, 1992.
BMA, "The Triumph of French Painting, Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse", 3/12-7/16/2000, no.34 pp. 108-109 ill.; circulated to The Philbrook Museum of Art, The Norton Museum of Art, Dayton Art Institute, The Royal Academy of Arts, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, through 1/6/2002.
Sona K. Johnson, BMA, Baltimore, "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art", circulated by Brain Trust to Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, January 11-February 16, 2003; Sakura City Museum of Art, Chiba, February 27-March 30, 2003; Okazaki City Museum, April 5-May 18, 2003; Suntory Museum, Osaka, May 24-July 6, 2003; Miyazaki Prefectural Museum, July 12-August 17, 2003.
"Claude Monet and Modernist London: Reflections on the Thames", Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, Florida, January 16, 2005 through April 17, 2005; tour to Brooklyn Museum of Art, June 29, 2005 - September 4, 2005; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 2, 2005 - January 31, 2006.
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, "Imagining Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Subject, Sequence, Series", October 6, 2018 - January 6, 2019.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Masterworks from the BMA and Maryland Private Collections,' 1963.
Hayward Gallery, 'The Impressionists in London,' The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1973, no. 17, p. 44.
Auckland City Art Gallery (N.Z.), 'Claude Monet-painter of light,' 1985, cat. no. 29, p. 98, ill. (color) p. 99.
Grace Seiberling, 'Monet in London,' High Museum of Art, distributed by U. of Washington Press, Seattle, 1988, Cat. 11, Fig. 11.
Daniel Wildenstein, 'Claude Monet Biographie et catalogue raisonne,' Tome IV: 1899-1926, Lausanne-Paris: La Bibliotheque Des Arts, 1985, #1566, p. 174, ill. p. 175.
Daniel Wildenstein, 'Monet Catalog Raisonne Vol. III, ' Koln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1996, p. 681-682, ill. p. 681.
Sona K. Johnson et al, "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art," Tokyo: "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art" catalogue committee, 2003, no. 94, p. 130, ill. pp. 130-131.
Norwood, Nancy, ed. Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process. Rochester, NY: RIT Press and Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 2018.
Inscribed: Signed and dated, bottom left, "Claude Monet 1903"
On View at the BMA
