Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Maisons Falaise, brouillard (Houses at Falaise in the Fog)

Details

Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Maisons Falaise, brouillard (Houses at Falaise in the Fog)
stamped with signature 'Claude Monet' (Lugt no. ??; lower right)
oil on canvas
28 x 36 in. (73 x 92.1 cm.)
Painted in 1885

Provenance

Michel Monet, Giverny; sale, Htel Rameau, Versailles, 7 June 1966, lot 17
Anon. sale, Htel Drouot, Paris, 25 March 1984, lot 66

Literature

D. Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Biographie et catalogue raisonn, Lausanne, 1974, vol. II, p. 156, no. 977 (illustrated, p. 157); vol. V , p. 43.
D. Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Catalogue raisonn, Cologne, 1996, vol. III, p. 367, no. 977 (illustrated in color).

Exhibited

Paris, Muse de l'Orangerie, Claude Monet, exposition retrospective,, 1931, p. 57, no. 79 (titled as Le hameau dans la brume [Falaise prs de Giverny])
Paris, Centre culturel du Marais, Claude Monet au temps de Giverny, April-July 1983, p. 35, no. 9 (illustrated in color, fig. 13).

Lot Essay

In April 1883, the lease on Monet's house in Poissy expired and the artist was forced to search for new accommodation. He informed Durand-Ruel that the area around Vernon attracted him. "I like the countryside around here very much" (D. Wildenstein, op. cit., vol. I, p. 188). Thus with an advance from Durand-Ruel, Monet chose the village of Giverny, which would provide him with a lifelong retreat. Once settled, he bagan to explore the region and in 1885 he painted a series of views of the village of Falaise. Maison Falaise, brouillard is painted from the same spot as two other winter scenes, with a greater emphasis on the atmospheric effect of this early morning view. Wildenstein describes the location: "The Val de Falaise, or more precisely the Vallon des Vaux Vailly, shown here on the left, runs up the hills which overlook the Epte Valley and the hamlet of Falaise" (ibid., 1996, vol. III, p. 366).