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In 1892 Monet was required to travel to Rouen in order to sort out an inheritance issue. While there, he began a series of canvases of the cathedral, carried out in two campaigns in spring 1892 and 1893. These views of the façade are from three successive locations, moving progressively southwards. The first vantage point was front-on from an apartment located opposite the cathedral. The second shows the edifice seen slightly from the side: for this the painter was positioned on the first floor of a women’s underwear shop. He set up behind a screen after the clients protested! Finally the third point of view is even further to the side, from a second shop further to the south, which meant that the sky disappeared from his canvases. At the start of his work, Monet was dissatisfied and disheartened with his results, as was often the case. He kept retouching his works endlessly, without achieving the effects he anticipated. At any rate, by the end of his stay he had gained a far better understanding of the subject, though he still ended up finishing in his studio at Giverny around thirty versions he had begun on site. His time in Rouen was so dominated by the light on the cathedral façade that he even refused visits from his wife. This series is the most spectacular demonstration of his unflinching determination to convey what he called ‘instantaneity’. The amount of studies and the unprecedented number of versions reveal an increasingly sharp awareness of atmospheric variations and changes in light according to the time of day. The Gothic architecture became the focus of his pictorial studies: even a subject as permanent and solid as this constantly changed its appearance. Monet used a rougher technique to show the way the light caught the façade and to suggest the texture of the stonework.
Size: 2297px × 3350px
Photo credit: © Emin Yavuz / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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