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Overview

From a distance of ten feet or so, Monet's brushstrokes blend to yield a convincing view of the Seine and the pleasure boats that drew tourists to Argenteuil. Up close, however, each dab of paint is distinct, and the scene dissolves into a mosaic of paint—brilliant, unblended tones of blue, red, green, yellow. In the water, quick, fluid skips of the brush mimic the lapping surface. In the trees, thicker paint is applied with denser, stubbier strokes. The figure in the sailboat is only a ghostly wash of dusty blue, the women rowing nearby are indicated by mere shorthand.

In the early years of impressionism, Monet, Renoir, and others strove to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere on the landscape and to transcribe directly and quickly their sensory experience of it. Monet advised the American artist Lilla Cabot Perry, "When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naïve impression of the scene before you."

Inscription

lower right: Claude Monet

Provenance

(Durand-Ruel, Paris); sold 1890 to Henri Vever [1854-1942], Paris; (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1-2 February 1897, no. 78); purchased by (Georges Petit) for Marie-Albert, vicomte de Curel [1827-1908], Paris;[1] by descent in his family; (de Curel sale, Palais Galliera, Paris, 21 June 1961, lot C);[2] purchased by (Hector Brame, Paris) for Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1983 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1966
French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 83, repro.
1986
Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, July-October 1986, unnumbered checklist, repro.
1986
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, January-May 1986, no. 19, repro.
1995
Claude Monet: 1840-1926, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1995, no. 37, repro., as The Highway Bridge at Argenteuil.
1996
Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party", The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1996-1997, pl. 31, repro.
1999
An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.
2000
The Impressionists at Argenteuil, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 2000, no. 28, repro., as The Highway Bridge and Boat Basin.
2014
Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2014-2015, no. 12, repro. (shown only in Houston).
2015
Monet: A Bridge to Modernity, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2015-2016.
2017
Impressionismus: Die Kunst der Landschaft, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, 2017, no. 32, repro.
2017
Monet: Framing Life, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2017-2018, no. 4.

Bibliography

1966
Goldwater, Robert. "The Glory that was France." Art News 65 (March 1966): 86, repro. 45.
1974
Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné. 5 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1974-1991: no. 312.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 487, no. 719, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 281, repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 277, 279, color repro.
1996
Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet [vol. 1: The Triumph of Impressionism; vols. 2-4: Catalogue raisonné - Werkverzeichnis]. 4 vols. Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:132, no. 312, repro.
1997
Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism, 1997, no. 127, 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. 28.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 387, no. 321, color repro.
2012
Trescott, Jacqueline. “Making an Even Better Impression.” Washington Post 135, no. 146 (April 29, 2012): E6, repro.

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