Provenance

Ernest Hoschedé

French, 1837 - 1891

Explore Selected Works

We look across the water at two sailing ships with cream-white sails and dark rigging floating in a shimmering, ice-blue river against a distant shore lined with trees, hills, and buildings in this nearly square landscape painting. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and the ships’ masts and sails are silhouetted against a topaz-blue sky with wispy white clouds. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout so many of the details are indistinct. One boat floats near the left edge of the painting and the second is situated a little father back, to our right of center. Both have rust-orange anchors painted near the pointed bows, which face us. Tall, narrow, asparagus-green trees line the far riverbank between the boats. Tall spires and towers of buildings rise in a cluster to our left near that edge of the canvas, and boats cluster near the distant shore to our right. Oatmeal-brown hills rise beyond the trees and town. The trees and boats are reflected in the water, which is painted with horizontal dashes and squiggles. The artist signed the painting in the lower left, “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen, 1872/1873, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.43

Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen

Claude Monet · 1872/1873 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.43

Shown from about the waist up, a young woman wearing white sits in an armchair cuddling a brown and black striped cat in this vertical painting. The scene is painted with blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft look. The wall behind them is seafoam green, and the edge of a yellow floral curtain lines the left edge of the canvas. The woman’s body is angled to our right and she looks at the cat with dark eyes. The woman’s light brown hair is pulled up, and her pale skin is accentuated by rosy cheeks. Her bare arms enfold the cat, held upright against the left side of her body so its head rests against her cheek. She supports the cat’s upper body with her right hand, on which she wears an emerald ring. The cat’s lower body nestles into the crook of the woman’s left arm. Its paws are extended and its head pulled back. The white and blue tones of the woman’s short-sleeved dress and kerchief tied around her neck contrast against the muted burgundy-red of the armchair behind her. To our right, behind the woman, vibrant, loose brushstrokes in red, orange, green, violet, and white could be a floral arrangement.
Auguste Renoir, Woman with a Cat, c. 1875, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin E. Levy, 1950.12.1

Woman with a Cat

Auguste Renoir · c. 1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1950.12.1