For the first time in 120 years, The Courtauld Gallery will reunite an extraordinary group of Claude Monet’s Impressionist paintings of London in the major exhibition The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Monet and London. Views of the Thames.
These works have never been the subject of a UK exhibition. Begun during three visits to the capital between 1899 and 1901, the paintings depict Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament. The series was unveiled in Paris in 1904 to great critical acclaim. Monet fervently wanted to show it in London the following year but the project fell through. The Courtauld Gallery will therefore realise Monet’s unfulfilled ambition of exhibiting this distinct group of works in London, just 300 metres from the Savoy Hotel where many of them were painted.
Museum Image Courtesy of the Milwaukee Art Museum Photo : John R Glembin
Claude Monet (1840-1926) is world-renowned as the leading figure of French Impressionism, a movement that changed the course of modern art. Less known is the fact that some of his most remarkable paintings were made not in France but in London. They depict views of the Thames, capturing the river and its surrounding architecture as they had never been seen before, full of evocative atmosphere, mysterious light, and radiant colour. Monet came to London in the wintertime, fascinated by the effects of the London fog, a phenomenon produced by the city’s heavy industrialisation in the 19th century. In London, the fog took on a particular density and a variety of hues that occurred nowhere else. Monet’s paintings are undoubtedly amongst the most significant representations of the Thames ever made and embody the complexity of his practice, 40 years after his debut, as he pushed the Impressionist approach to the extreme.
Monet started the paintings during his three long stays in London in 1899, 1900 and 1901 and finished them in his studio in Giverny, north of Paris. While he eventually painted almost 100 views of the Thames, his most ambitious project to date, the exhibition focuses on the smaller group of 37 paintings that were presented at the unveiling of the series in 1904. Monet completed these works as a unit specifically for their public display and he considered them the finest representatives of his artistic project. They constituted, in his eyes, the true ‘Thames series’. After the show, the paintings were dispersed, purchased by collectors in France and abroad. The exhibition The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Monet and London. Views of the Thames will feature 21 paintings, 18 of which were in the 1904 unveiling, in an unprecedented effort to recreate the display that Monet himself put together and the experience he wanted his audience to have seeing these extraordinary works.
Monet and London. Views of the Thames, 27th September 2024 – 19th January 2025, The Courtauld Gallery
Tickets for Monet and London are now on sale: HERE
The Courtauld Lates: Monet and London 27 Sep 2024 and 17 Jan 2025
The Courtauld Gallery will be open for late-night access until 22:30 on the first and last Friday of the exhibition as part of its Courtauld Lates series – giving visitors the chance to enjoy an evening of world-class art, cocktails and music surrounded by The Courtauld’s collection of masterpieces at Somerset House.
The exhibition’s lead sponsor is Griffin Catalyst, the civic engagement initiative of Citadel Founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin. The exhibition is supported by The Huo Family Foundation, with additional support from the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable Foundation.
