Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926), Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, ca. 1900 (dated 1903). Oil on canvas, 29 1/16 × 38 5/8 in. (73.82 × 98.11 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Albert T. Friedmann. M1950.3. Photo: Cleber Bonato.
This painting is one of many landscapes and outdoor scenes that Claude Monet made to explore the transitory effects of light and color under varying atmospheric conditions. The artist focused on a single motif, such as the bridge in this canvas, in a series of paintings he made later in his career. Monet commented in 1895: “The motif is significant for me: what I want to reproduce is what lies between the motif and me.”
Monet is considered not only the leader of the Impressionist movement but also the most original and influential painter of the nineteenth century.
Permanent collection label, November 2015. Written by Tanya Paul, Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art.
