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A sun-dappled dirt road runs away from us, parallel to a shimmering body of water under a blue sky dotted with white clouds in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, so some details are difficult to make out. The road moves back in space from the lower right corner of the canvas. It is lined with tall thin trees with narrow, dark green canopies to our right and with marshy grasses to our left. The road ends or curves in front of a row of terracotta-orange and gray buildings and smokestacks along the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up this composition. Two women and a child stand and sit in the shadows at the base of the trees to our right. Two sailboats drift on the glassy surface of the water. A row of celery-green trees on the horizon to our left and the sails of the boats reflect in the water. The artist signed the lower right corner, “Claude Monet.”

Claude Monet

Argenteuil, c. 1872

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 82

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 50.4 x 65.2 cm (19 13/16 x 25 11/16 in.)

framed: 70.8 x 85.7 x 8.3 cm (27 7/8 x 33 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.42

Artists / Makers

Claude Monet (artist) French, 1840 - 1926

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right: Claude Monet.

Provenance

Possibly purchased 1872 from the artist by (Durand-Ruel, Paris).[1] Mlle Marguerite Hugo, Paris, by c. 1957;[2] sold 1965 to (Wildenstein and Co., London, New York and Paris);[3] sold 14 March 1966 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1] Daniel Wildenstein, Monet [vol. 1: The Triumph of Impressionism; vols. 2-4: Catalogue raisonné - Werkverzeichnis], 4 vols., Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:99, no. 223, repro.

[2] The painting was lent by Mlle Hugo to the 1957 Arts Council of Great Britain exhibition shown in Edinburgh and London. In the Wildenstein prospectus (in NGA curatorial files), she is identified as the great-granddaughter of Victor Hugo.

[3] Acquisition source and date according to letter from Joseph Baillio of Wildenstein dated 14 December 1998, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Hugo, Marguerite
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1957: An Exhibition of Paintings: Claude Monet, organized by The Arts Council of Great Britain, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; Tate Gallery, London, 1957, no. 32.

1986: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1986, no. 16, repro.

1989: Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 34, repro.

1994: Monet: A Retrospective, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo; Nagoya City Art Museum; Hiroshima Museum of Art, 1994, no. 13, repro.

1999: Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no catalogue.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 40, repro.

2000: The Impressionists at Argenteuil, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 2000, no. 8, repro., as The Promenade at Argenteuil (brochure, detail on cover).

2010: Claude Monet 1840-1926, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 2010-2011, no. 29, repro.

2010: Da Corot a Monet. La sinfonia della natura., Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, 2010, unnumbered catalogue.

2011: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, no. 30, repro.

2013: Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016.

2016: Monet: The Early Years, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 2016-2017, no. 34, repro.

2017: Monet: Framing Life, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2017-2018, no. 1, repro.

2018: Monet and Architecture, The National Gallery, London, 2018, no. 112, repro.

2019: Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature, Denver Art Museum, Denver; Museum Barberini, Potsdam, 2019 - 2020, no. 41, repro.

2019: Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet, Pissarro and More, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2019, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1974: Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné. 5 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1974-1991: 1:211, no. 223.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 244, repro.

1978: Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 30, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 487, no. 720, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 279, repro.

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 34, repro.

1991: Coman, Florence E. Joie de Vivre: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1991: no. 16, repro.

1996: Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet [vol. 1: The Triumph of Impressionism; vols. 2-4: Catalogue raisonné - Werkverzeichnis]. 4 vols. Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:99, no. 223, repro.

2000: Tucker, Paul Hayes. The Impressionists at Argenteuil. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford. Washington and Hartford, 2000: no. 8.