1878 -1881 · Vétheuil, rural Seine and impressionist seasons

In Vétheuil, Monet transformed the village, the church, the gardens and the Seine into a laboratory of seasons where light, water and architecture changed with each canvas.

Claude Monet moved to Vétheuil in 1878 after the more prosperous years of Argenteuil. The financial situation was difficult and the large house was shared with Ernest and Alice Hoschedé, but the village of Vexin offered the painter one exceptional territory. The Seine widens, the islands cut the current and the Notre-Dame church dominates the houses spread out on the bank. Monet paints the village from the river and the opposite bank, sometimes aboard his workshop boat. He do not look for a single view: the church, the banks and the silhouettes of the houses become stable landmarks subject to mists, snow, floods and summer lights. The winter of 1879 -1880 is particularly harsh. When the Seine freezes then breaks up, Monet captures the patches of ice, dark waters and pale horizons in a series of rapid studies. In contrast, Le Jardin de Monet in Vétheuil displays a flowered staircase, sunflowers and bathed figures of sun. The Poppies near Vétheuil circulate red in a vast open landscape. Camille Monet died in September 1879, and this period therefore mixed intimate ordeal and pictorial renewal. Leaving Vétheuil for Poissy at at the end of 1881, Monet took an in-depth method: returning to the same place, comparing his states and making the atmosphere the real subject. The "Claude Monet Vétheuil" selection notably compares Les Coquelicots near Vétheuil and Monet's Garden in Vétheuil. His reading favors details.

In Vétheuil, the same bell tower, the same bank and the same garden become several worlds as soon as the season and the light change.