À propos de l’œuvre
Le Parlement, soleil couchant, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1900 -1903 · Barberini MB-Mon-38 · W1604
Parliament, setting sun W1604hand painted reproduction
Westminster stands deep blue in front of a purple-red sky, while an orange solar disk pierces to the right of Victoria Tower. The silhouette is reflected in a darkened Thames. This 81.2 × 92 cm version is MB-Mon-38, Wildenstein 1604.
Look at the work
An orange sun facing the blue silhouette of Westminster
Victoria Tower dominates slightly to the left of center, accompanied by a succession of lower spiers. The sun appears in the right part, just above the buildings. A dark boat in the foreground introduces a human scale into the monumental mass.
The magenta red of the sky meets the blue-green of architecture without neutral transition. In the water, these hues mix into purple, blue and pink bands. The contours remain deliberately imprecise so that the smog seems to absorb the stone.
W1604 is based on a very simple and very strong opposition: an almost pure hot disk against an architecture that has become a cold mass.
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.
The MB-Mon-38 version
The Museum Barberini documents an oil on canvas measuring 81.2 × 92 cm, signed and dated "Claude Monet 1903" lower left and listed as Wildenstein 1604.
A view from Saint Thomas' Hospital
Monet paints Westminster from the opposite bank, on a hospital terrace. The backlight transforms the neo-Gothic details into a silhouette, then the fog erases the separation between building and river.
From the Anne Bass collection in Potsdam
Acquired from Durand-Ruel in 1904, the painting went through several American collections, including that of Anne H. Bass, before its entry into the Hasso Plattner Collection in 2022.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one image is used: the exact photograph of W1604, prepared in true high definition WebP of 3,000 × 2,619 px from the source of 3,200 × 2,794 px.
The tower and the sun are not centered
The Victoria Tower is located to the left of the middle, the sun to the right. This deviation creates the tension of the painting and should not be corrected by symmetrical cropping.
Petrol blue versus magenta red
The strength of the palette comes from two complementary families. The orange sun must remain luminous without being enlarged or surrounded by a halo that is too yellow.
Contours absorbed by smog
The edges of the towers are built by superpositions of blue, green and purple. Uniform black lines would make the architecture too heavy.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Museum Barberini keeps this version under the inventory MB-Mon-38: 1900 -1903, 81.2 × 92 cm, signature and date lower left, Wildenstein 1604.
Parliament, setting sun, W1604
The orange disc placed on the right, the dark blue silhouette and the signature at the bottom left identify this version, distinct from Washington's W1598.
Hasso Plattner Collection, MB-Mon-38
The work belongs to the impressionist collection presented by the Museum Barberini in Potsdam and bears its own inventory number.
Views of the Thames, Durand-Ruel, 1904
Monet exhibits this painting under number 28 in the presentation which reveals to the Parisian public the extent of his London work.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version MB-Mon-38 and Wildenstein 1604
- The original format of 81.2 × 92 cm
- The orange sun separated from the Victoria Tower
- The blue-green silhouette without a harsh architectural design
Work sheet
| Title | Parliament, setting sun W1604 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1900 - 1903 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 81.2 × 92 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal, almost square |
| Conservation | Museum Barberini, Hasso Plattner Collection, Potsdam, Germany |
| Inventory | MB-Mon-38 · Wildenstein 1604 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
The contrast of petrol blue and magenta gives a strong presence to a living room, dining room or office. Walnut, weathered brass and warm gray walls support its colors without reducing the shine of the sun.
