À propos de l’œuvre
Le pont de Waterloo, le jour gris, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1903 · National Gallery of Art · Wildenstein 1569
Waterloo Bridge, gray dayhand painted reproduction
Four blue-brown arches cross a gray Thames; chimneys stand in a pink, smoky sky, while purple plumes descend in front of the bridge to reflections and barges.
Look at the work
The fumes connect the industrial sky to the boats of the Thames
Waterloo Bridge cuts the composition below the middle and moves slightly to the right. Its face is ash brown, its arches cobalt blue. Above, the buildings on the south bank are reduced to blue-gray verticals; a tall, isolated chimney on the right balances the more massive tower placed near the center.
The shell pink and mauve plumes are the most mobile shapes on the canvas. One climbs behind the bridge, the other seems to pass in front of his deck and falls back towards the water. Under the arches, blue boats and a few orange accents give rhythm to a surface constructed in short horizontal touches.
The day is gray, but never monochrome: Monet circulates pink, turquoise, orange and purple within a deliberately muffled atmosphere.
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 four arches as the main rhythm
Their dark curves structure the bottom of the scene. They must remain distinct while blending into the same blues and grays as the reflections.
Smoke in front and behind the bridge
The plumes create several planes without linear perspective. Their pale pink advances while the cold chimneys recede into the sky.
Very measured warm accents
Small orange and red touches appear on the deck and boats. They liven up the composition without breaking its bluish gray climate.
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 official main view reaches 4096 × 2641 px. Details of 2500 × 1450 px and 2700 × 1150 px are native cropping of this master in open access. No files have been enlarged; all three images are in WebP.
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 1963.10.183, Wildenstein 1569
The National Gallery of Art preserves this 65.1 × 100 cm oil on canvas. Monet signed and dated it lower left "Claude Monet 1903".
From Durand-Ruel to the Chester Dale collection
The painting first belonged to Durand-Ruel, who sold it in 1904 to Franklin F. Nicola. Chester Dale acquired it on January 7, 1933 and bequeathed it to the National Gallery of Art in 1963.
Presented in Pittsburgh in 1908
This version was exhibited at the Carnegie Institute in the Exhibition of Paintings by the French Impressionists of 1908, then in a new lending exhibition organized at the same location in 1910.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The ash brown of the apron against the blues of the arches
- The pink plumes crossing several planes
- Vertical chimneys without mechanical contours
- Dark boats and rare orange accents
Work sheet
| Title | Waterloo Bridge, gray day |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1903 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 65.1 × 100 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | National Gallery of Art, Washington, United States |
| Inventory | 1963.10.183 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
The bluish gray, dusty pink and cool brown palette brings a calm depth. It matches greige, smoky blue or off-white walls, as well as dark wood, linen and patinated metal.
