À propos de l’œuvre
Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1903 · Rochester · W1590
Waterloo Bridge, veiled sun W1590hand painted reproduction
Waterloo Bridge passes through a lilac mist where the sun is nothing more than a veiled yellow light above the chimneys. This oil on canvas measuring 64.8 × 99.7 cm, completed in 1903 and kept at the Memorial Art Gallery, corresponds to number 1590 of the Wildenstein catalog raisonné.
Look at the work
The veiled sun gives color to the London mist
Monet places the bridge deck slightly above the middle of the canvas. Five arches punctuate the purple mass, while the circulation is summed up by tiny yellow, pink and blue accents. In the background, the industrial chimneys appear then disappear in a vapor which erases any clear boundary between sky, city and river.
The small golden rectangle near the central fireplace acts as a bright focus. However, it produces no clear shadow: its heat diffuses into the pinks and purples of the fog, then descends to the brief touches of the Thames. The image remains readable from afar and transforms into a network of colored keys when approached.
In W1590, the sun does not illuminate the scene from the outside: it seems to be born inside the fog itself and gradually modify each color.
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 Memorial Art Gallery version
The dimensions, inventory 53.6 and Wildenstein number 1590 distinguish this painting from other Waterloo Bridges in the Sun. The museum named it Waterloo Bridge, Veiled Sun and documented its completion in 1903.
A pattern observed from the Savoy Hotel
During his stays in London from 1899 to 1901, Monet worked from a room and a balcony in the Savoy. This elevated viewpoint allows him to follow the bridge, traffic, south bank chimneys and variations of the River Thames without moving the composition.
A surface studied by conservation
The exhibition held in Rochester in 2018 brought together eight versions of Waterloo Bridge and presented scientific imagery as well as pigment analysis of the museum's canvas. This research confirms how Monet slowly constructs an effect that appears instantaneous.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one image is used: the documented scanning of the Memorial Art Gallery, converted to a true WebP of 3,000 × 1,946 px from the source of 3,277 × 2,126 px, without artificial enlargement.
Five arches without rigid outline
The bridge must remain recognizable without becoming graphic. Batteries are obtained by changes in value and temperature; a continuous dark line would destroy the impression of stone absorbed by the air.
A lilac made up of many colors
The fog brings together cold blue, ash pink, mauve, beige and a few greens. Preserving these gaps prevents the large atmospheric surface from becoming flat or uniformly purple.
Visible touches in the water
The reflections in the foreground are short, horizontal and irregular. Their more sensitive material contrasts with the almost erased city and gives the Thames a moving depth.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Memorial Art Gallery documents an oil on canvas from 1903 measuring 64.8 × 99.7 cm, inventory 53.6 and Wildenstein catalog 1590.
Memorial Art Gallery, 53.6
The painting entered the museum in 1953 through a gift from the estate of Emily and James Sibley Watson. It remains one of the iconic works of the Rochester collection.
More than forty Waterloo Bridges
Monet takes up the same point of view under different hours and fogs. Repetition does not copy the motif: it isolates transformations of light, smoke and color.
Wildenstein 1590
The yellow sun near the central chimney, the lavender cast and the dimensions of 64.8 × 99.7 cm make it possible to precisely identify this version.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version of the Memorial Art Gallery, inventory 53.6 and W1590
- The original format of 64.8 × 99.7 cm
- The yellow light veiled near the central fireplace
- Readable arches without black outline or artificial sharpness
Work sheet
| Title | Waterloo Bridge, veiled sun W1590 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1903 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 64.8 × 99.7 cm |
| Orientation | Panoramic horizontal |
| Conservation | Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, United States |
| Inventory | 53.6 · Wildenstein 1590 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its lilacs, smoky blues and touches of soft yellow are suitable for a quiet living room, bedroom or office. A warm gray wall, light oak and unbleached textiles prolong the atmosphere without extinguishing the bright spot.
