Observing the River Thames through the eyes of Monet

During Monet’s visits in 1899, 1900 and 1901, the city of London was at its maximum industrialisation. The paintings dating from these years feature famous monuments and infrastructures, such as Charing Cross, Waterloo bridges and, above all, the Palace of Westminster. However, these paintings do not reveal the dynamism of a metropolis in total development. Instead, the images transmit melancholy, shrouded in a silence that seems to petrify the urban spaces of Greater London forever. His Views of the Thames, once exhibited in France, were indeed a brilliant success because of their ability to capture the contrasting effects.

“Waterloo Bridge Series” was a cycle of oil and pastel paintings made between 1899 and 1904 devoted to the nearby Waterloo Bridge. Monet did the first part of the series during his three-week stay in London in September 1899, the second part was painted during his three-month stay between 1900 and 1901, and the last works are dated to 1903. In all three cases, the painter stayed on the fifth floor of the famous Savoy Hotel on the north bank of the Thames, where from his balcony, one could see Waterloo Bridge on his left and Charing Cross Bridge on his right.

Monet, as in other cases, worked quickly on all the paintings in the series, so that he could capture with his brush the different impressions of the bridge, which changed according to the illumination of the sun or, more often, because of the intensity of the blanket of fog and smoke distinctive of London.