Bridge at Argenteuil on a Gray Day

c. 1876

Claude Monet

Artist, French, 1840 - 1926

We look across a glimmering river toward docks, about a dozen small boats, and a mustard-brown, boxy building under a bridge that crosses the width of the canvas in this horizontal landscape painting. A patch of green grass lines the riverbank in the lower right corner of the canvas. The land curves away out of sight, and then back into the scene below the abutment of the bridge along the right side of the painting. From the ivory-colored abutment, the straight deck of the bridge is supported by two shallow, iron-gray arches, and the bridge extends off the left side of the composition. Dots of red and gray on the bridge suggest vehicles or pedestrians. The river below is painted with blended strokes of silvery gray, icy blue, and pale lavender purple around the low-sided sailboats. One turquoise-colored houseboat is pulled up to the riverbank to our right. The long, rectangular, flat-topped building is pierced with two stories of windows, which are outlined in spruce green against the golden yellow. The horizon line runs just below the bridge deck, just under halfway up the composition. The sky above is painted with longer swipes of cream white and smoke gray. Loose, short brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the water, boats, and bridge. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, "Claude Monet."

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 61 x 80.3 cm (24 x 31 5/8 in.)
    framed: 82.9 x 102.6 x 8.9 cm (32 5/8 x 40 3/8 x 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.44

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Rosenberg, Paris); sold 1 March 1900 to (Durand-Ruel, New York and Paris);[1] sold 1938 to (E.J. van Wisselingh, Amsterdam); sold 1938 to Henry Stevenson Southam [1875-1954], Ottawa.[2] Possibly Whitney.[3] (Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York); sold 27 June 1946 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[4] bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] According to letter dated 20 December 1977 from Charles Durand-Ruel, citing DR Paris stock number 5723. [2] According to letter dated 3 January 1978 from M. van der Ven (Secretary, E.J. van Wisselingh & Co.). They had no further information about to whom the painting was sold by Mr. Southam. This may be the painting Port d'Argenteuil lent by Southam to an exhibition at the National Gallery in Ottawa in May 1944. [3] According to the provenance given in Daniel Wildenstein's 1974 catalogue raisonné of Monet's work. Wildenstein's records indicate that this name was given to them by the previous owner, but they had no further information. In 1977 NGA asked John Hay Whitney of New York if the painting had been in his collection, but he responded that it had not been owned by any member of his Whitney family. [4] Provenance according to NGA curatorial records and the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1935

  • L'Impressionisme, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1935, no. 41, repro.

1937

  • Exposition de la peinture française de Manet à nos jours, Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw, 1937, no. 23, repro.

1945

  • Six Impressionists, Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York, 1945, no. 10, repro.

1961

  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 29, repro.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 84, repro.

1973

  • Extended loan for use by Vice President Spiro Agnew, Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1973.

1981

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Munch Museum, Oslo, 1981.

1986

  • Monet, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, 1986, no. 17, repro.

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1991

  • La rivière de Seine et ses Peintres, Musée de l'Ile de France, Château de Sceaux, 1991, no. 35, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 41, repro.

2000

  • The Impressionists at Argenteuil, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000.

2004

  • Claude Monet, A Hymn to Light: Selected Works from the 1870s and 1890s, Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum; Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, 2004, no cat.

2013

  • Eblouissants reflets: cent chefs-d'oeuvre impressionistes, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, 2013, no. 41, repro.

2015

  • Monet and American Impressionism, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga; Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, 2015-2016, pl. 29.

2016

  • Monet, Beyond Impressionism, Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen, 2016.

2017

  • Monet: Framing Life, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2017-2018, no. 7, repro.

Bibliography

1974

  • Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné. 5 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1974-1991: no. 316.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 244, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 487, no. 718, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 280, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Claude Monet

Wikidata ID

Q20188810

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