Thames Map: Works
Thames Map: Walks
Polluted Landscapes
Tate Boat
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
These prints provide a panoramic sweep of the Thames from Whistler's rooms on the sixth floor of the Savoy Hotel. To the right were views of Charing Cross Bridge (now called Hungerford Bridge), Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, while to the left was Waterloo Bridge, with St. Paul's Cathedral beyond.
At this stage Whistler channelled most of his experimentation into lithography, a medium perfectly suited to the restrained, understated effects he was seeking; the scenes appear more like memories or dreams than views from a window. Monet admired these prints, and decided to stay at the Savoy himself and paint variations on the same theme.
Whistler's wife died soon after he made these prints, and he never returned to paint or draw the Thames.
See also the other lithographs in this set: Charing Cross Railway Bridge,
and Little London.
James McNeill Whistler
Waterloo Bridge 1896
Transfer lithograph on paper.
Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago. Mansfield-Whittemore-Crown Collection on deposit at the Art Institute of Chicago
Evening Little Waterloo Bridge
James McNeill Whistler
Evening, Little Waterloo Bridge 1896
Transfer lithograph on paper.
Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago. Mansfield-Whittemore-Crown Collection on deposit at the Art Institute of Chicago
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Waterloo Bridge, London
Monet spent some time during his visits to London working with pastels; he wrote to his wife Alice: 'I continue to experiment with pastel. I enjoy it very much even though I'm not accustomed to using it; it keeps me busy and may even help me.'
He seems to have regarded these pastels studies as 'exercises' which helped him work out how to render atmospheric effects. When he resumed painting in oils he wrote again to Alice: 'It is thanks to my pastels, made swiftly, that I realised how to proceed.'
Claude Monet
Waterloo Bridge, London 1900
Pastel on paper.
Lent by the Louvre, Department of Graphic Arts, with funds from the Musée d'Orsay, Paris
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Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect
Monet could see Waterloo Bridge from the Savoy Hotel, where he stayed during his visits to London. The heavy stone arches provided a marked contrast with the geometric metal framework of Charing Cross Bridge, which he could see in the other direction. These views of Waterloo Bridge, with its dense flow of people and traffic, explore the effects of morning sunlight through the fog and smoke from the factories on the opposite bank.
A writer who visited Monet while he was working on these views was amazed at the variety of effects he captured: 'Sometimes everything is set on fire by a sunbeam . Then the thick fog returns, and the sunlight, suspended in air, is no stronger than the still light of a lamp'.
Claude Monet
Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect 1903
Oil on canvas.
Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr and Mrs A Ryerson Collection
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Waterloo Bridge
Claude Monet
Waterloo Bridge 1903
Oil on canvas.
Lent by Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts
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Waterloo Bridge: Sun in the Fog
Claude Monet
Waterloo Bridge: Sun in the Fog 1903
Oil on canvas.
Lent by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
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The Thames above Waterloo Bridge
Few images suggest so forcefully the polluted state of early-nineteenth-century London. On the left, dirty black vapour billows from the smoke stacks of a paddle-steamer, while thick cloud obscures much of central London, except Waterloo bridge and the shot tower on the South Bank. The shipping suggests the bustle of the commercial Thames, though it could be a special occasion: this may be a further recollection of the fire at Westminster in 1834.
The image curiously anticipates Monet's depictions of almost exactly this viewpoint, shown in the next room, but he could not have seen Turner's painting, as it was not exhibited until 1906.
JMW Turner
The Thames above Waterloo Bridge about 1830-5
Oil on canvas.
Tate. Bequeathed by the artist 1856
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