Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist)

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This placid landscape is the result of an energetic creative process. For months Claude Monet rose before dawn to travel by rowboat to the same location on the river Seine, where he painted 14 canvases simultaneously, reworking them as the light shifted. Although this painting appears hazy and vague, Monet made deliberate technical decisions—for instance, blurring a once-distinct horizon line with vigorously blended brushstrokes that grow looser as they radiate outward. Monet custom-ordered the nearly square canvas, an unusual shape that contributes to the disorienting nature of the scene, half of which represents a reflection on the water. By diffusing the landscape through these techniques, Monet attempted to capture the transience of light and mist, a theme he pursued throughout his career.

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