Waterloo Bridge
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Waterloo Bridge
Maker
Claude Monet
(b. 1840, Paris, France – d. 1926, Giverny, France)
Date1899-1903
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions25 3/4 in. x 31 15/16 in. (65.4 cm x 81.1 cm)
Credit LineBequest of the Estate of Marion L. and Gustave Ring, parents of Carlyn Ring (Class of 1951) and grandparents of Vivian Lorn Farmery (Class of 1985)
Object number1987.9
Status
On viewProvenance1926 estate of Claude Monet; passed by descendent to Michel Monet (1878-1966), Giverny, France; collection of Marion L. and Gustave Ring, Washington D.C.; 1987 bequeathed by the estate of Marion L. and Gustave Ring to the Davis Museum.
RightsCopyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright laws
Photo creditDavis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
More InformationMonet painted London’s Waterloo Bridge multiple times from his hotel room on the fifth floor of the Savoy Hotel overlooking the Thames River. From his balcony, to the left he could see the Waterloo Bridge, which he would begin painting in the morning, and to the right, Charing Cross Bridge—his subject in the afternoon. He strove to capture the light effects and atmosphere created by the city’s legendary fog, which determined the visibility of the smokestacks on the opposite riverbank. Here, the bridge is barely discernable; the water, land, and sky almost entirely merge. The pinkish orange of the sun and the areas where its light is reflected are the only departure from a cool palette. While at the Savoy, Monet worked on multiple canvases at once—at one point up to seventy—and revisited many of the paintings in his studio on his return to his home in Giverny.