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We look across a river at a bridge that spans the center of this horizontal landscape, which is painted entirely with broad, visible brushstrokes in muted blue, pink, and brown. The straight deck of the bridge crosses the center of the composition but angles slightly away from us as it moves to our right. The four low arches of the bridge are ash brown on their face, and their curved undersides are cobalt blue. Marigold-orange and teal-blue marks on the deck above suggest traffic, and shell-pink smoke or steam billows over our side of the bridge. Three long, narrow forms in the water between and in front of the bridge pilings suggest boats. The sky above is painted loosely with icy blue and pale peach around the slate-blue silhouettes of buildings and smokestacks lining the far bank. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner: “Claude Monet 1903.”

Claude Monet

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Day, 1903

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 80

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 65.1 x 100 cm (25 5/8 x 39 3/8 in.)

framed: 84.4 x 120 cm (33 1/4 x 47 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Accession Number

1963.10.183

Artists / Makers

Claude Monet (artist) French, 1840 - 1926

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left: Claude Monet 1903

Provenance

In the private collection of Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris; sold 1904 to Franklin F. Nicola, Pittsburgh; purchased 7 January 1933 by Chester Dale [1882-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.[1]

[1]Dale acquisition source and date according to copies of the Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial records.

Associated Names

Dale, Chester
Durand-Ruel, Paul-Louis
Nicola, Franklin F.

Exhibition History

1908: Exhibition of Paintings by the French Impressionists, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1908, no. 49

1910: Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1910, no. 68

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

Bibliography

1942: French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 53, repro.

1944: French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 53, repro.

1953: French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 62, repro.

1965: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 97, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 93.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 81, repro.

1974: Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalouge raisonné. 5 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1974-1991: no. 1569.

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: 491, no. 727, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 279, repro.