Claude Monet
(Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)
Waterloo Bridge, Brouillard, 1901, pastel on paper, 31.5 x 47.8 cm, framed
Provenance:
Michel Monet, Giverny (the artist’s son)
Private Collection, Switzerland
Sale: Christie’s, London, February 6, 2003, lot 414
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired from the above sale)
Sale: Sotheby’s, London, June 25, 2015, lot 347
Private Collection, Germany (acquired at the above sale by the present owner)
Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy of Arts & Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, The Unknown Monet. Pastels and Drawings, 2007
Literature:
Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue Raisonné, supplément aux peintures, dessins, pastels, Lausanne, 1991, vol. V, no. P103 with ill., p. 175
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings, London 2007, ill. no. 259, p. 256
When Claude Monet travelled to London for the third time in the winter of 1900/01, he did so with a clear artistic goal: the city and its unique atmosphere were to become the subject of an entire body of work. London offered the French Impressionist a scene unlike any other – an interplay of water, industrial buildings, traffic and weather that manifested itself in constantly changing nuances of light and color.
During his stay, Monet took up residence in a studio at the Savoy Hotel, whose location afforded him a spectacular view across the Thames. From there, a panorama of the city unfolded before him in which three motifs repeatedly presented themselves: Waterloo Bridge, Charing Cross Bridge, and the monumental silhouette of the Houses of Parliament. These views became the central themes of his famous London series.
Monet was less interested in the buildings themselves than in what surrounded them. Around 1900, London was a place of intense industrial activity: steamers glided along the Thames, factory chimneys lined the banks, and from both there rose plumes of smoke that mingled with the ever-present London fog. This mixture of water, smoke, and mist transformed the landscape into a vibrant atmospheric texture in which forms dissolved, contours blurred, and architecture appeared only as shadowy apparitions in the light.
It was precisely these fleeting phenomena that fascinated Monet. He worked simultaneously on numerous paintings intended to capture different times of day and weather conditions. During a stay in 1901, however, his work came to a brief halt: several canvases he had already begun were held up by customs and were stuck in France. For an artist of Monet’s restless productivity, the wait was almost unbearable. So he chose a medium that could be used more directly and spontaneously: pastel.
The sheets from this period are extraordinary documents. Unlike the meticulously constructed oil paintings of the London series, the pastels were created with an almost eruptive gesture. With quick, light strokes, Monet applied dabs of color to the paper: pale blues, silvery greys, and delicate veils of white. They depict more of an atmosphere than any concrete forms.
In this work in pastel from 1901, Waterloo Bridge appears as a barely perceptible strip in the mist. The bridge almost completely dissolves into the hazy air; only individual arches or pillars are vaguely discernible. Below, light and smoke are reflected in the water’s surface, merging into shimmering zones of color. Isolated hints of boats or chimneys appear and disappear again into the haze.
The picture almost feels like a memory of a landscape, not a precise reproduction of it. This is where its particular quality lies. Monet didn’t depict the city but rather the moment of its appearance; the pastel became the medium of an instantaneous perception.
This instantaneousness also explains the unique dynamism of these works. They were created rapidly, often within minutes, even while the light was changing - yet again. The artist reacted intuitively to what he saw: a suddenly thickening veil of mist, a reflection of light on the water, a dark streak of smoke over the river. For Monet, London was an ideal place precisely because of these constantly changing conditions. The city’s atmosphere created a natural laboratory for his central artistic question: “How does light alter the perception of form?”
Today, the pastels can also be understood as a glimpse into Monet’s studio process. They show how intensively the artist studied the atmosphere of London before letting it flow into his large painting cycles. In them, the moment is condensed – a fleeting state of light, fog and smoke over the Thames.
In doing so, Monet explicitly followed a pictorial tradition shaped primarily by William Turner, who had already depicted London, the Thames and its bridges in a fluid interplay of light, steam and fog, dissolving solid form in favour of virtually abstract effects of light. Against this backdrop, Monet’s pastel of Waterloo Bridge can be interpreted as a modern continuation of Turner’s vision. As with Turner, the fog is not merely a weather phenomenon, but the actual subject - an atmospheric veil that dematerializes the city and transforms it into a pure apparition of color and light.
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(Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)
Waterloo Bridge, Brouillard, 1901, pastel on paper, 31.5 x 47.8 cm, framed
Provenance:
Michel Monet, Giverny (the artist’s son)
Private Collection, Switzerland
Sale: Christie’s, London, February 6, 2003, lot 414
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired from the above sale)
Sale: Sotheby’s, London, June 25, 2015, lot 347
Private Collection, Germany (acquired at the above sale by the present owner)
Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy of Arts & Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, The Unknown Monet. Pastels and Drawings, 2007
Literature:
Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue Raisonné, supplément aux peintures, dessins, pastels, Lausanne, 1991, vol. V, no. P103 with ill., p. 175
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings, London 2007, ill. no. 259, p. 256
When Claude Monet travelled to London for the third time in the winter of 1900/01, he did so with a clear artistic goal: the city and its unique atmosphere were to become the subject of an entire body of work. London offered the French Impressionist a scene unlike any other – an interplay of water, industrial buildings, traffic and weather that manifested itself in constantly changing nuances of light and color.
During his stay, Monet took up residence in a studio at the Savoy Hotel, whose location afforded him a spectacular view across the Thames. From there, a panorama of the city unfolded before him in which three motifs repeatedly presented themselves: Waterloo Bridge, Charing Cross Bridge, and the monumental silhouette of the Houses of Parliament. These views became the central themes of his famous London series.
Monet was less interested in the buildings themselves than in what surrounded them. Around 1900, London was a place of intense industrial activity: steamers glided along the Thames, factory chimneys lined the banks, and from both there rose plumes of smoke that mingled with the ever-present London fog. This mixture of water, smoke, and mist transformed the landscape into a vibrant atmospheric texture in which forms dissolved, contours blurred, and architecture appeared only as shadowy apparitions in the light.
It was precisely these fleeting phenomena that fascinated Monet. He worked simultaneously on numerous paintings intended to capture different times of day and weather conditions. During a stay in 1901, however, his work came to a brief halt: several canvases he had already begun were held up by customs and were stuck in France. For an artist of Monet’s restless productivity, the wait was almost unbearable. So he chose a medium that could be used more directly and spontaneously: pastel.
The sheets from this period are extraordinary documents. Unlike the meticulously constructed oil paintings of the London series, the pastels were created with an almost eruptive gesture. With quick, light strokes, Monet applied dabs of color to the paper: pale blues, silvery greys, and delicate veils of white. They depict more of an atmosphere than any concrete forms.
In this work in pastel from 1901, Waterloo Bridge appears as a barely perceptible strip in the mist. The bridge almost completely dissolves into the hazy air; only individual arches or pillars are vaguely discernible. Below, light and smoke are reflected in the water’s surface, merging into shimmering zones of color. Isolated hints of boats or chimneys appear and disappear again into the haze.
The picture almost feels like a memory of a landscape, not a precise reproduction of it. This is where its particular quality lies. Monet didn’t depict the city but rather the moment of its appearance; the pastel became the medium of an instantaneous perception.
This instantaneousness also explains the unique dynamism of these works. They were created rapidly, often within minutes, even while the light was changing - yet again. The artist reacted intuitively to what he saw: a suddenly thickening veil of mist, a reflection of light on the water, a dark streak of smoke over the river. For Monet, London was an ideal place precisely because of these constantly changing conditions. The city’s atmosphere created a natural laboratory for his central artistic question: “How does light alter the perception of form?”
Today, the pastels can also be understood as a glimpse into Monet’s studio process. They show how intensively the artist studied the atmosphere of London before letting it flow into his large painting cycles. In them, the moment is condensed – a fleeting state of light, fog and smoke over the Thames.
In doing so, Monet explicitly followed a pictorial tradition shaped primarily by William Turner, who had already depicted London, the Thames and its bridges in a fluid interplay of light, steam and fog, dissolving solid form in favour of virtually abstract effects of light. Against this backdrop, Monet’s pastel of Waterloo Bridge can be interpreted as a modern continuation of Turner’s vision. As with Turner, the fog is not merely a weather phenomenon, but the actual subject - an atmospheric veil that dematerializes the city and transforms it into a pure apparition of color and light.
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Time, Location
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