Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight

1894

Claude Monet

Artist, French, 1840 - 1926

We look up at the exterior of a church that soars the height of this vertical painting. The church is painted with visible dabs and strokes of sky blue, cream white, golden tan, and a few touches of pale, shell pink to create a blurred look, as if seeing a reflection in the rippling surface of a puddle. The church façade is angled to our left, away from us. The main door and its surround takes up the center of the composition, where a rectangular door is set within nested, pointed arches that lead up to a narrow, tall, triangular gable. The point of that gable overlaps the round rose window, which is the same width as the portal surround below. Spires flank the central section and rise steeply off the top edge of the painting. The sky above is painted as a field of pale lapis blue. A few dabs of darker blue and green suggest people, tiny in scale, standing near the lower left corner. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “Claude Monet ‘94.”

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Your experience of these paintings changes depending on where you stand. From afar, the architecture of Rouen Cathedral seems sturdy and imposing. The thick texture of Monet’s paint heightens the effect. But as you move closer, the cathedral seems to dissolve into fragments of color. The illusion of its solidity comes apart.

Monet painted a series of more than 30 views of Rouen Cathedral in Normandy between 1892 and 1893. He moved from one canvas to another to capture the distinctive effects of light and atmosphere throughout the day. He finished the canvases in his studio in nearby Giverny in 1894.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 80

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 100.1 x 65.8 cm (39 3/8 x 25 7/8 in.)
    framed: 127.6 x 91.4 cm (50 1/4 x 36 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.179

More About this Artwork

Video:  Claude Monet's Rouen Cathedrals (ASL)

This video provides an ASL description of two of Claude Monet's paintings of Rouen Cathedral. 

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

From the artist to (Durand-Ruel, Paris); on joint account with (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris); sold 10 November 1926 to Chester Dale [1882-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.[1]
[1]Date and source of acquisition according to Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial records.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1917

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Modern French Masters, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1917, no. 10, as Rouen Cathedral - Symphony in Gray.

1922

  • Paintings by Contemporary English and French Painters, The Brooklyn Museum, 1922-1923, no. 176, as Cathédrale de Rouen, symphonie en gris.

1923

  • French Impressionist Paintings, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1923, no cat.

1926

  • Exhibition of Paintings by The Impressionists, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1926, no. 11, as La cathédrale de Rouen.

1927

  • Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1927, no. 20, as Cathedrale de Rouen.

1933

  • Exhibition of Masterpieces by Claude Monet 1840-1926, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1933, no. 10, as La Cathédrale de Rouen.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 47, repro.

1930

  • Lawrence, Majorie. "Two Periods Meet in a Modern Maisonette." Home & Field 40 (September 1930): 25, repro.

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 55, repro.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 55, repro.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 61, repro.

1959

  • Evans, Grose. French Painting of the 19th Century in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Two in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 28, color repro.

1960

  • Newton, Eric. The Arts of Man. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1960: 234-236, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 326, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 92.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 95, repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 82, repro.

1974

  • Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalouge raisonné. 5 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1974-1991: 3:no. 1324.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 242, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 487, no. 717, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 278, repro. 277 (repro. for 1963.10.179 incorrectly printed with entry for 1963.10.49 and vice-versa).

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 203, repro.

  • "Der grosse Kampf ums Licht." Art: Das Kunstmagazin 7 (June 1992): 36, repro.

1993

  • Düchting, Hajo. Robert and Sonia Delaunay: Triumph der Farbe. Cologne, 1993: 18, repro.

1995

  • Taylor, John Russell. Claude Monet: Impressions of France from Le Havre to Giverny. London, 1995:115, repro.

2012

  • Kennicott, Philip. "French Rooms Reopen, With Different Accents." Washington Post 135, no. 55 (January 29, 2012): E25.

2023

  • Dombrowski, André. Manet's Minutes: Impressionism and the Industrialization of Time. New Haven, 2023: 156-159, color fig. 92.

Inscriptions

lower right: Claude Monet '94

Wikidata ID

Q17436669

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