Monet was fascinated by the vaporous mists of London. He visited the English capital three times between 1899 and 1901, painting views of the River Thames. As in his earlier series of haystacks and cathedrals, Monet used many canvases to differentiate the changing effects of light and climate.

From his vantage point on a balcony of the Savoy Hotel, he dissolved the details of Parliament and the Charing Cross railroad bridge into shifting veils of blue, rose, and violet. Emphasizing the canvas's rich surface, Monet has dragged his brush in graceful, almost playful, curls across the shimmering British haze.

By inheritance to Michel Monet [1878-1966], Claude Monet's son.{1} (Paul Petrides, Paris).{2} Denys Sutton [1917-1991], London. (The New Gallery, New York), around 1959.{3} (Findlay Galleries, Chicago, by 1964);{4} purchased by Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1965 (65.15).{5}

{1} Stamped twice on back of canvas with the estate stamp (a reproduction signature) along with the number '8'.
{2} The AAM Guide to Provenance Research, 2001, lists Paul Pétrides as a red flag name. He opened the Galerie Paul Pétrides in Paris in 1934, but became an active collaborationist dealer during the war. After the war, he reopened his Paris gallery, currently run by his son, Gilbert. Correspondence with the latter in September 2003 indicates that his gallery's records regarding international sales in the 1950s are incomplete. The Monet scholar, John House, has suggested that there would have been no market for such a loosely painted Monet until the 1950s, and speculates that this canvas may have remained at Giverny throughout the war, and sold - to Pétrides? - in the 1950s. See e-mail from John House dated July 30, 2003, in IMA Provenance File.
{3} This gallery no longer exists, however an exhibition brochure, 10th anniversary exhibition, The New Gallery, NY, September-October 1959, no. 16 (ill.), available in the Pamphlet Files of the Art and Architecture Collection at the New York Public Library, confirms this.
{4} See letter from Phyllis Whitman of Findlay Galleries, Chicago, dated June 10, 1965 in IMA Historical File.
{5} For bibliography and exhibition history, see Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 4, Geneva 1985, cat. no. 1530.