Fascinated by the dense fog of London, Claude Monet joined the ranks of artists James McNeill Whistler and J.M.W. Turner in producing memorable images of the British capital. Monet passed the winters of 1899, 1900, and 1901 painting views of the Thames River and capturing the London mists, rendered even thicker by the growing smog of the industrial era. From his vantage point on the fifth-floor balcony of the Savoy Hotel, Monet dissolved the familiar forms of Parliament, Waterloo Bridge, and the Charing Cross railway bridge into shifting veils of blue, rose, and violet.
When Monet painted this canvas, the Impressionist movement was more than twenty-five years old, and the themes and mood of his art reflect distinct changes. During the 1890s, he had turned increasingly from bustling urban subjects and convivial landscapes to silent settings where no human presence intrudes. As in his earlier series of haystacks or cathedrals, Monet used several canvases to record the fugitive effects of changing light and atmosphere. The IMA painting is one of nearly one hundred that he began in London and finished in his Giverny studio. Unsigned and loosely worked in the manner of his pastel sketches, this image may be one that Monet opted not to develop further. Using radiant colors and the canvas's rich surface texture, Monet dragged his brush in graceful curls across the glowing British haze.
Without the fog London wouldn't be a beautiful city. It's the fog that gives it its magnificent breadth.
-Claude Monet, about 1918
