À propos de l’œuvre
Leicester Square, la nuit, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · circa 1901 · Private collection · Wildenstein 1616
Leicester Square, at nighthand painted reproduction
A column of purple-brown smoke rises in the center of a deep blue sky. On the left, the red and yellow signs set the edge of the square ablaze; further down, the electric lights disperse into a crowd painted by rapid lines and vertical reflections.
Look at the work
A dark fireplace divides the blue night between red signs and yellow windows
The large central vertical does not describe a monument: it acts as a dark axis that separates two bright areas. On the left, an incandescent red occupies the edge of the canvas. In the middle, a blue facade bears a row of yellow windows, indicated only by a few irregular rectangles.
The square has no stable ground or drawn perspective. Touches of white, orange, green and blue descend downwards and suggest crowds, cabs and reflections at the same time. The eye recognizes the city by the intensity and position of its lights rather than by its buildings.
Monet does not paint at night as an absence of color: he makes blue the field on which each red, yellow or white light acquires an almost physical power.
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.
A central vertical which stabilizes the tumult
The purple-brown column should remain dense but slightly transparent. It organizes the vertical format without becoming a black band cutting the scene in two.
Hot signs concentrated on the left
The most intense red and yellow occupy a limited area. Scattering them everywhere would weaken the contrast with the large blue field.
A crowd rendered by vertical reflections
The lower lines suggest movements and silhouettes without detailing them. Their rhythm must remain irregular, with intervals of blue which prevent overload.
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 exact public view measures 1279 × 1634 px. Details of 980 × 650 px are direct cropping of the same Wildenstein 1616 file. No magnification was applied; all three images are real WebPs.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The work belongs to a private collection. The dimensions and catalog number are cross-referenced with the Wildenstein reference; the context of the series is documented by the sales archives dedicated to the three views of Leicester Square.
The Wildenstein 1616 version
This vertical oil on canvas measures 80 × 64 cm and is dated around 1901. It belongs to a private collection and is distinguished from the Wildenstein 1615 and 1617 versions.
Three night views painted in March 1901
Monet created three paintings of Leicester Square from a small room in the Green Room on St Martin's Street. John Singer Sargent and Asher Wertheimer helped him get this view of the square and the Empire Theater.
Presented at the Marmottan Monet Museum in 2014
This private version appeared in the exhibition The Impressionists in Private, organized at the Marmottan Monet Museum from February 13 to July 6, 2014.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact Wildenstein 1616 version
- The central column preserved purple-brown, never black
- Intense red concentrated on the left edge
- The crowd suggested by non-figurative vertical touches
Work sheet
| Title | Leicester Square, at night |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | around 1901 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 80 × 64 cm |
| Orientation | Vertical |
| Conservation | Private collection, Location not communicated |
| Inventory | Wildenstein 1616 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
The deep blue and red and yellow flashes give this vertical reproduction a spectacular presence. It is suitable for an entrance, bookcase or narrow wall, on a midnight blue, warm gray, cream or terracotta background.
