Monet
The canvas is dated 1875, one year after Monet and his friends had gathered in the rooms of the atelier of Nadar to stage their own independent exhibition, in opposition to the official Salon, which had rejected them. For some time now, Monet had been cultivating the idea of founding an association of artists that would operate outside of the academic system. In 1873, he succeeded in doing so by creating the Société Anonyme des artistes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc., which was then officially presented to the public at the 1874 exhibition.
The painting on display belongs to this phase: the new pictorial language is now defined and has declared war on the academic tradition. With a few vibrant brushstrokes and a palette bathed in light, Monet captures his own immediate perception of a specific moment and place.
The work presents all the characteristics of Monet’s Impressionism: his preference for landscape, his ability to seize a fleeting vision of reality and fix it on the canvas, the rapidity of his touch, and his use of synthetic, chemical-based paints, often applied without blending them.