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Between us and a river lined with buildings on the far bank in the distance, tall willow trees nearly span the height of this horizontal landscape. The scene is loosely painted, and the color palette is almost completely dominated by cool tones of spring, sage, celery, and kelly green, and steel and sea blue. The grasses near us are painted with diagonal strokes that alternate direction and color as they move back toward the river. Golden yellow daubs in the lower right suggest blooms, and leaves on the trees are created with thin, upward strokes and dabs along slender branches. The trees reach high into a sky filled with sweeps of beige, blush pink, and spring green layered over pale blue. The river is a lavender gray, and the low, tightly clustered buildings are painted with a mix of ochre, peach, and denim blue. The artist has signed and dated the work in the lower right corner, though the final digit is illegible: “Claude Monet 188.”

Claude Monet

The Willows, 1880

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 80

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 66.68 × 81.92 cm (26 1/4 × 32 1/4 in.)

framed: 90.49 × 106.05 × 9.53 cm (35 5/8 × 41 3/4 × 3 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Edward C. and Mary Walker Collection)

Accession Number

2015.19.65

Artists / Makers

Claude Monet (painter) French, 1840 - 1926

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right, last number illegible: Claude Monet / 188[?]

Provenance

Purchased November 1880 from the artist by Cahuzac. Dr. Filleau, Paris; purchased September 1883 by (Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York); sold July 1891 to Potter [1826-1902] and Bertha [1849-1918] Palmer, Chicago. (Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York), in 1892. William H. Fuller [d. 1902], New York, in 1893. (Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York), in 1897. Edward C. [d. 1915] and Mary Griffin [1855-1937] Walker, Willistead Manor, Walkerville, Ontario, and Washington, by 1907;[1] bequest 4 May 1937 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] Provenance according to Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue Raisonné - Werkverzeichnis, 4 vols. Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:no. 611.

Associated Names

Cahuzac, M.
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Durand-Ruel et Cie
Filleau Dr.
Fuller, William H.
Palmer, Potter and Bertha
Walker, Edward C. and Mary Emma Griffin

Exhibition History

1882: Possibly 7me Exposition des Artistes Independants [Seventh Impressionist Exhibition], Paris, 1882, no. 91.[1]

1913: Loan Exhibition of Pictures Owned in Detroit, Detroit Museum of Art, 13-27 February 1913, no. 26.

1915: Exhibition of Paintings by French Impressionists, Detroit Museum of Art, November 1915, no. 32.

1957: Claude Monet, Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1957, no. 4, as Poplars.

1957: Monet, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri, 1957, no. 4, as Poplars.

1958: A Selection of Paintings from the Edward C. Walker and Mary Walker Collection, Willistead Art Gallery, Windsor, Ontario, 8-29 October 1958, no. 12, as Willows by the River's Edge.

1958: Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, 3 January-2 February 1958, no. 14, as The Poplars.

1959: French Masterworks: A Loan Exhibition from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, 1 July-13 August 1959, no. 18.

1959: Loan Exhibition. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art: A Benefit Exhibition in Honor of the Gallery's Centenary, Wildenstein, New York, 28 January-7 March 1959, unnumbered cat., repro., as Willows of Vétheuil.

1971: Claude Monet: 40th Anniversary Exhibition, 1931-1971, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, September 1971, no. 1

1972: Conservation in the Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 September-22 October 1972, unpublished checklist, as Willows of Vetheuil.

1983: La Vie Moderne: Nineteenth Century French Art from the Corcoran Gallery, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, Georgia; Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Tampa Museum; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; Akron Art Museum, 1983-1985, no. 30, as Willows at Vétheuil.

1983: Sargent's Contemporaries, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 4 June - 28 August 1983, unpublished checklist, no. 17.

1986: Claude Monet, Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, May-June 1986.

2011: A Passion for Nature: Landscape Painting from 19th Century France, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, 15 October 2011 - 20 February 2012, no catalogue, as Willows at Vetheuil.

2014: Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2014.

Exhibition History Notes

[1] No. 91 in this exhibition may be the NGA painting or another Monet painting of the same subject, identified in the 1996 catalogue raisonné as being in a Japanese private collection.

Bibliography

1959: Corcoran Gallery of Art. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1959: 34.

1974: Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné. 5 vols. Paris, 1974-1991: 1(1974):376-377, pl. 611; 5(1991):35.

1996: Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet [vol. 1: The Triumph of Impressionism; vols. 2-4: Catalogue raisonné - Werkverzeichnis]. 4 vols. Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:234, no. 611, repro.