'The Seine at Port-Villez', Claude Monet

Artwork details

Artist

Claude Monet (1840‑1926)

Title

The Seine at Port-Villez

La Seine à Port-Villez

Date 1894

MediumOil paint on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 654 x 1003 mm frame: 864 x 1216 x 88 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Purchased 1953

Reference

N06182

Not on display

Display caption

Monet executed several scenes of the Seine near his house at Giverny. He probably began each canvas in a specially adapted flat-bottomed boat, but would have continued working on paintings in his studio over a period of time. Monet has stripped this scene of physical detail, focusing, instead, on recording the all-enveloping light and atmosphere of the river. In 1891 he said, 'For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the air and the light, which vary continuously. For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.'

August 2004