Waterloo Bridge

Claude Monet, one of the pioneers of the Impressionist movement, was renowned for his remarkable style of capturing transient moments and the ephemeral quality of light in his paintings. Among his vast body of work, one of the most notable series is the “Waterloo Bridge” paintings, created during his stay in London between 1899 and 1901.

The “Waterloo Bridge” series is a testament to Monet’s unparalleled ability to portray the changing weather, atmosphere, and light at different times of day. He painted the Waterloo Bridge from his room at the Savoy Hotel, which offered an exceptional view of the Thames and the city’s smog-covered landscape. This urban fog intrigued Monet, who found a particular beauty in the industrial cityscape shrouded in mist, a stark departure from his usual subject matter of natural landscapes.

One of the most remarkable aspects of these paintings is Monet’s study of light and its effects on the atmosphere and color of the landscape. He would paint multiple canvases simultaneously, switching between them as the light and weather conditions changed throughout the day. Each painting in the series is an individual representation of a unique atmospheric condition, making every piece stand out.

Waterloo Bridge is a subject that Monet revisited repeatedly, resulting in more than forty paintings. The varied palette and brushwork between these pieces depict the same scene in diverse lights and weathers, from the orange glow of dawn to the blue-gray of a rainy day, revealing his fascination with the interplay of natural and man-made elements.

The year of painting for each “Waterloo Bridge” work varies within the range of Monet’s stay in London, but most were likely completed between 1900 and 1901. Monet, however, continued to rework some of these canvases in his Giverny studio in France after his return.