À propos de l’œuvre
Pont de Charing, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · London, 1899 · Santa Barbara Museum of Art · W1522
Charing Cross Bridge, Santa Barbara W1522hand painted reproduction
In a yellow, pink and lavender mist, Charing Cross Bridge becomes an almost transparent strip. The towers of Westminster stand on the right like two purple silhouettes; on the left, three white puffs betray the passage of a train. A small dark boat is enough to bring the Thames closer to the viewer in this particularly clear and abstract version.
Look at the work
The bridge, the city and the river dissolve in the same pastel light
The sky occupies more than half of the canvas. Monet superimposes very pale yellows, cold pink, pearl gray and purple without drawing a clear limit. The two towers of Westminster emerge in the upper right quarter, but their contours disperse in the atmosphere. On the left, the city is nothing more than a purple mass crossed by small clear fumes.
The deck of the bridge cuts the canvas in the middle with a blue stripe punctuated with vertical piles. Underneath it, the Thames takes on the same colors as the sky, but with shorter and more horizontal touches. A black boat, slightly to the left of the center, provides the only strong contrast; the purple bank at the bottom right then closes the foreground.
The structure of the bridge remains legible, but everything around it shows that Monet paints London less than the colorful thickness of his air.
Composition, touch and light
What Monet builds behind the impression of snapshot
Three precise elements allow us to understand this composition and the essential difficulties of faithful reproduction.
Visible towers without drawn outline
Westminster silhouettes are obtained by several very close purples. Their edges should remain diffuse so that they appear distant rather than simply blurry.
A railway line marked by smoke
Three small white masses on the left indicate the train. Their position above the deck confirms the railway function of the bridge without adding any descriptive detail.
A boat that measures the width of the river
The dark shape of the foreground is tiny but decisive. It gives scale to the bridge piers and prevents the pastel tablecloth from becoming entirely abstract.
Details and visual documents
Observe the material and the exact version
The additional images show the difficult-to-read passages in the full view and, where it exists, the actual appearance of the work at the museum.
The best documented native view of this version measures 1046 × 857 px. The two details of 750 × 520 px and 700 × 500 px are taken directly from this file, without artificial enlargement. All three media were encoded and controlled as true WebPs.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
These facts concern this precise version and are verified from the notice of the institution which keeps it.
Santa Barbara 1968.20.4, Wildenstein 1522
This oil on canvas from 1899 measures 65.7 × 81.6 cm. Preserved at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art under number 1968.20.4, it is listed as Wildenstein 1522.
Nearly forty views from the Savoy Hotel
During his stays in London between 1899 and 1901, Monet observed Charing Cross Bridge from his balcony at the Savoy Hotel. He began his paintings on site, at different times, then continued their development in his workshop in Giverny.
Legacy of Katharine Dexter McCormick
The museum says the painting was bequeathed by Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband Stanley McCormick. Its exhibit notice describes it as one of the most abstract interpretations of the bridge in the series.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version of Santa Barbara, 1968.20.4 and W1522
- The original ratio of 65.7 × 81.6 cm
- The towers and bridge kept present without hard contours
- The yellows, pinks and lavenders differentiated despite their very low contrast
Work sheet
| Title | Charing Cross Bridge, Santa Barbara W1522 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1899 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 65.7 × 81.6 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, United States |
| Inventory | 1968.20.4 · Wildenstein 1522 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Ivory yellow, lavender, mist blue, pearl pink and purple create a soft, airy light. This horizontal reproduction illuminates a living room, bedroom or office without dominating the room; it goes well with light woods, natural textiles and off-white walls.
