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Lot Essay
The present work relates very closely to La Seine à Vétheuil (fig. 1; W.599) of the same year in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The two paintings depict a scene along the banks of the river Seine downstream from Vétheuil, the town Monet moved to in April 1878. To the right the chalk hills of Chantemesle rise steeply above the river, punctuated in places by cliffs. Orchards and gardens line the river bank under the shelter of the cliffs. On the other side of the river, behind the village of Lavacourt, on the left in the present work, the land is a flat, watery alluvial plain that stretches away as far as the eye can see.
Monet tirelessly explored the surrounding villages and countryside, painting views in all seasons. The Vétheuil countryside clearly agreed with the artist as it presented him with an abundant source of unspoiled nature. With views of poppy fields, hillsides lined with apple trees and vistas across the Seine, Monet chose to depict scenes unaffected by industrialisation. Such paintings confirm Monet as a true pleinairist, fascinated by the changing effects of light through the seasons. The present work is suffused with a gentle early spring or late winter light, with an emphasis on blues, greens and mauves. The reflections of the trees in the river are created with cursive, flickering brushstrokes, attesting to Monet's assurance and poise. Of Monet's views of the Seine painted in 1879-1880, Paul Hayes Tucker, refers to their 'haunting beauty' and describes them as 'both sonorous and silent, energised and elegiac' (P.H. Tucker, Claude Monet, Life and Art, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 103).
Monet tirelessly explored the surrounding villages and countryside, painting views in all seasons. The Vétheuil countryside clearly agreed with the artist as it presented him with an abundant source of unspoiled nature. With views of poppy fields, hillsides lined with apple trees and vistas across the Seine, Monet chose to depict scenes unaffected by industrialisation. Such paintings confirm Monet as a true pleinairist, fascinated by the changing effects of light through the seasons. The present work is suffused with a gentle early spring or late winter light, with an emphasis on blues, greens and mauves. The reflections of the trees in the river are created with cursive, flickering brushstrokes, attesting to Monet's assurance and poise. Of Monet's views of the Seine painted in 1879-1880, Paul Hayes Tucker, refers to their 'haunting beauty' and describes them as 'both sonorous and silent, energised and elegiac' (P.H. Tucker, Claude Monet, Life and Art, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 103).