À propos de l’œuvre
Le pont Charing-Cross à Londres, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · circa 1902 · Tokyo · P.1959-0154
Charing Cross Bridge in Londonhand painted reproduction
Charing Cross Bridge passes through a cream, pink and yellow mist so light that the apron appears to float. To the right, Victoria Tower rises like a large green-gray vertical; in the center, purple smoke signals the train without interrupting the light unit of the scene.
Look at the work
The bridge and Westminster appear through an almost white atmosphere
The apron forms a very thin blue-gray line. Its batteries extend into the water through transparent, irregular and slightly colder verticals. In the center, the train is reduced to a few blues and mauves surrounded by pale pink smoke.
The Victoria Tower dominates the right but its contrast remains low. Yellows and greens pass in front of its silhouette. In the Thames, roses, creams and blues are placed in long horizontal touches which distinguish the water from the sky without breaking the fog.
London remains identifiable, but each architecture seems painted from within the fog itself, where the color precedes the outline.
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.
An apron reduced to a cold line
The blue-gray band should remain thin and discontinuous. A dark line that is too clear would artificially separate the sky from the Thames.
The Victoria Tower with very low contrast
The large vertical on the right is built with greens, yellows and pale blues. It must emerge slowly rather than becoming an opaque landmark.
Purple smoke in the center
The train is not detailed. Its presence is due to the small purple and pink cloud, the edges of which dissolve into the cream background.
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 main view measures 2200 × 1429 px. Details of 1350 × 650 px and 1150 × 620 px are direct cropping of P.1959-0154. No files have been enlarged; all are real controlled 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.
Inventory P.1959-0154 of the Tokyo Museum
This 65.3 × 100 cm oil on canvas is dated around 1902, signed lower left and listed as Wildenstein 1525.
The Thames seen from the Savoy Hotel
Monet observes Charing Cross Bridge westward from his installation at the Savoy. Westminster and Victoria Tower are in the right side of the view.
Acquired from the artist around December 1921
The painting was purchased for Kôjiro Matsukata, sequestered in France in 1944, then transferred to the Japanese government in January 1959 before entering the museum.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The apron held very thin and blue gray
- The Victoria Tower preserved in low contrast
- Purple smoke from the train with no details added
- The difference between sky and water created by the direction of the keys
Work sheet
| Title | Charing Cross Bridge in London |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | around 1902 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 65.3 × 100 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan |
| Inventory | P.1959-0154 · Wildenstein 1525 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This light reproduction visually enlarges a room. Its horizontal format and cream, pale pink and gray green tones match light wood, linen, greige and warm white walls.
