Claude Monet's London Paintings

Here are six key facts about Monet's London paintings.

(1) When were they produced?

Monet fled to London during the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war. But he missed home and didn't produce many canvasses. He then holidayed in London in the 1880s and 1890s. Again, however, there was no serious painting.

Monet's London works were instead produced over three extended stays between:

• September and October 1899,
• February and April 1900, and
• January and April 1901.

(2) Where did Monet stay?

Monet stayed at the Savoy Hotel on The Strand. The rooms and suites on the fifth and sixth floors offered wonderful views over the Thames.

Monet stayed in a suite on the sixth floor on his first visit. The Savoy now has a suite decorated in impressionist style in his honour. When he returned the next year, however, the sixth floor had been reserved for officers wounded fighting in the Boer War. Monet therefore took two rooms on the fifth floor - numbers 541 and 542 - using one as a bedroom and the other as his studio.

(3) How did Monet work?

Monet worked from the balcony of his rooms at the Savoy to paint Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Bridge, and from the newly constructed St Thomas' hospital to paint the Houses of Parliament.

He usually painted the bridges in the morning and the Houses of Parliament in the afternoon, catching the setting sun behind its gothic tower and turrets.

Monet's method was extraordinary. He started scores of canvasses, each trying to capture the precise atmospheric conditions of the moment. At one stage, he had more than 90 canvasses on the go at once.

As John Singer Sargent explained, he found Monet:

"... surrounded by some ninety canvases - each one the record of a momentary effect of light over the Thames. When the effect was repeated and an opportunity occurred for finishing the picture, the effect had generally passed away before the particular canvas could be found."

Monet took his canvasses back to Giverny at the end of each trip, where he continued to work on them.

(4) What did Monet say about the paintings?

Monet had mixed emotions about his works. When things were going well, he loved London, its weather and the motifs it offered. When going badly, he fretted, cursed and raged.

Here are some of the lines when Monet was feeling good:

"I so love London! But I only love London in the winter. It's nice in the summer with its parks but it's nothing like it is in the winter with the fog, because without the fog, London wouldn't be a beautiful city. It's the fog that gives it its magnificent breadth. Its regular and massive blocks become grandiose within that mysterious cloak."

"I can't tell you what a fantastic day it was. What wonderful things, but none lasting more than five minutes, it is enough to drive one mad. No, there is no country more extraordinary for a painter."

And here is an example of what Monet wrote on a bad day:

"To keep going with a canvas is almost impossible. I make changes to the canvases and often those what were acceptable become worse. No one will know how hard I worked to achieve so little."

(5) What did Monet do after he left London?

Monet took his canvasses back to his home in Giverny, where he continued to work on them until 1904. He then held a show of 37 of the canvasses at the gallery of his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, on the Rue Lafitte in Paris.

The paintings were incredibly popular. Durand-Ruel bought 24 of the 37 paintings from him during the 1904 exhibition, the Houses of Parliament commanding 20,000 francs and the bridges 15,000 francs.

(6) Monet made various other series of paintings

Starting from around 1890, Monet started working on his series paintings - making multiple works of the same or a very similar motif. His most famous works are the Poplars, Haystacks and Rouen Cathedral - all produced before the London series - and his water lilies, most of which were produced afterwards.

The British Houses of Parliament - also known as the Palace of Westminster - was built in Gothic revival style between 1830 and 1860.

Found on the banks of the river Thames, it offered structure and a famous landmark for Monet to paint. Here's a photograph of the building from 1863:

Monet worked on the Houses of Parliament from the newly constructed St Thomas' hospital, on the South Bank of the Thames. He was arranged privileged access by Dr Frank Payne, working from one of the covered terraces and permitted to store his painting supplies in an unused reception room.

Monet narrows and lengthens Victoria Tower so that its corner pinnacles meet the top edge of his composition. Here are eight of the 19 known versions of the motif:

The Waterloo Bridge painted by Monet was built between 1810 and 1817.

The first Waterloo Bridge

Named to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's famous victory over Napoleon, it was a granite bridge comprising nine 120-foot arches, almost 750 metres from end to end, provided perfect structure to Monet's compositions.

At the time, Waterloo Bridge was world famous, having been described as "the finest stone bridge in the world." Monet was not the first artist to feature it: here is Constable's 1830 painting entitled The Opening of Waterloo Bridge.

Alas, the first Waterloo Bridge suffered from serious design defects and had to be replaced by a more modern and lighter structure completed in 1942. Granite from the original bridge was sent to various Commonwealth countries and can be found in Canberra, Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand.

Monet's motifs

Here are five of the 41 known versions produced by Monet:

The variety and detail is tremendous:

• Note the range of colours deployed by Monet, depicting the bridge with purples and yellows on a good day, and shrouding it in greens on a bad one.
• Note also the detail, with barges and sail boats often found in the foreground, cars and buses seen driving over the bridge, and a range of chimneys and factories in the background belching smoke.

As with his two other London landmarks, Monet painted Charing Cross bridge in all weather conditions.

Here are some of his 37 canvasses:

Monet's main inspiration was, of course, the London fog which when mixed with its pollution produced captivating effects.

But Monet followed in the footsteps of the greatest English painter JMW Turner, who had painted the Thames in the 1830s.

Here is Turner's The Thames above Waterloo Bridge (1830-1835):

Monet was undoubtedly influenced by Turner in his formative years. But, as his star rose, he started to distance himself from the Englishman. Indeed, he even criticised "the exuberant romanticism of [Turner's] imagination".

Another big-name artist who painted the Thames was the American (but London-based) James Whistler. Whistler had painted the river at twilight or at night. Here is an example, Whistler's Nocturne (1870-77), thought to be a view of Battersea:

In contrast with his views of Turner, Monet was complementary of Whistler. He observed that it would be difficult to paint the Thames at night:

"... in the wake of Whistler, without falling into the trap of imitation".

Between 29 September 2024 and 19 January 2025, London's Courtauld Gallery hosts its exhibition: Monet and London. Views of The Thames.

Telling the story of Monet's three stays in London, the exhibition displays 37 of Monet's London paintings: eight of Charing Cross Bridge, 18 of Waterloo Bridge, and 11 of the Houses of Parliament.

Shown together for the first time since Monet's 1904 exhibition, the Courtauld's show is special for another reason: the gallery is located about 300 metres from The Savoy Hotel, where many of the works were produced.