克勞德·莫內

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on 23rd April 1900)

John Parkinson, Boston (acquired by 1905)

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired by 1931)

Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York (acquired in 1963)

E. J. Hudson, U.S.A. (acquired from the above in January 1966. Sold: Sotheby's, New York, 11th November 1987, lot 21)

Acquired by the present owner in 1993

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition Claude Monet, 1898, no. 13 or 14

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Monet, 1900, no. 20

Boston, Copley Society, Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin, 1905, no. 44

Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery, Modern French Paintings, 1907-08, no. 86

Vienna, Galerie Miethke, Manet - Monet, 1910, no. 25

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet,1911, no. 21

Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie des Tuileries, Exposition Claude Monet, 1931, no. 99

Coral Gables, Florida, Lowe Art Gallery, Renoir to Picasso, 1914, 1963, no. 36, illustrated in the catalogue

Georges Grappe, Claude Monet, Paris, 1909, discussed p. 65

Lionello Venturi, Les Archives de l'Impressionnisme, Paris & New York, 1939, vol. I, p. 376

Oscar Reuterswärd, Monet, Stockholm, 1948, no. 99, illustrated p. 211

Karin Hellandsjø, Monet i Norge, 1. Februar - 1. April 1895, Hövikodden, 1974, illustrated p. 22

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet. Biographie et catalogue raisonné, Lausanne & Paris, 1979, vol. III, no. 1403, illustrated p. 187

Marianne Alphant, Claude Monet in Norway, Paris, 1994, illustrated in colour p. 46

Monet i Norge (exhibition catalogue), Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger & Musée Rodin, Paris, 1995, illustrated pp. 50 & 181

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue Raisonné, Cologne, 1996, vol. III, no. 1403, illustrated p. 581

The canvas is lined. There are areas of retouching along and near the right edge and some further scattered spots and areas of retouching throughout, visible under ultra-violet light. Apart from a faint vertical stretcher mark running through the centre, this work is in stable condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although slightly less yellow in the original. The colours are overall richer and brighter, particularly the blue tones.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Au bord du fjord, près Christiania belongs to Monet’s series of paintings executed while he was visiting his stepson, Jacques Hoschedé, in Norway in the winter of 1895. His interest in the region had already been stimulated by seeing several paintings of the dramatic Norwegian landscape by his friend Frits Thaulow at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. The exhibition of these pictures had a lasting effect on Monet, and when presented with the opportunity in 1895, he set out for himself to see the crystalline colours of the Scandinavian landscape. In a letter to Blanche Hoschedé dated 1st March 1895, Monet wrote: ‘There are so many different things I could paint, and that’s what infuriates me more than anything, because it’s impossible to find lovelier effects than there are here. I mean snow effects, which are absolutely stunning, but incredibly difficult, then the weather is terribly changeable – nothing like at home – and especially because of the enormous stretches of white’ (quoted in M. Alphant, op. cit., p. 75).

 

Monet arrived in Oslo (then called Christiania) on 1st February and stayed in Björnegaard, where he rented a room. Although his initial reaction to this foreign land was one of hesitation, after a few weeks spent in Norway the artist found a major source of inspiration in the landscape that surrounded him: the snow-covered village of Sandviken, Mount Kolsaas (fig. 1) and the Oslo Fjord, depicted in the present composition. As Marianne Alphant described: ‘On the last day of February a sleigh ride on the ice-covered fjord took the painter out to the open water […]. “At last I finally managed to see the sea”, he wrote. “It’s half an hour away from here; you drive the sleigh over the ice until you get to where the fjord is no longer frozen over. It was marvellous! It was such a pleasure, and gave me a delightful motif with the little snow-covered islands nestling low on the water, with mountains in the background.” Monet was delighted by the sight of this water so dear to him, discovered only after such a long, hard search’ (ibid., p. 44). With its vibrant bands of blue and green tones, contrasted with the white of the snow and ice, the present view of the Oslo Fjord evokes the tranquillity and noble beauty of the landscape.

 

Monet had already painted winter landscapes in his youth and, fascinated by snow and by the possibilities it offered him as a painter, he had always desired to travel to the far north of Europe. His journey took him through the snow blizzards and ice-filled water as he travelled through Denmark, and he was immediately stunned by the sights he was witnessing. Oscar Reuterswärd gave the following account of Monet’s enthusiasm for the Norwegian landscape: ‘Of course, Monet should take his trip to Norway! It was a magnificent thought to exchange the polluted atmosphere of France for the crystal-pure air of the Nordic countries! And for the light of winter, the hoarfrost effects, the snow-covered mountains, their majestic silhouettes. In eloquent terms, Thaulow spread Norway out for Monet’s inner eyes as the promised land of painters’ (O. Reuterswärd, ‘Monet’, reprinted in Charles F. Stuckey (ed.), Monet. A Retrospective, New York, 1985, p. 166).

 

During the 1890s, the decade in which he painted Au bord du fjord, près Christiania, Monet set out on many journeys in search of artistic inspiration. He found these travels essential to his growth as an artist, and his paintings of this period show an unprecedented depth in the study of light and landscape. The artist was intrigued by the entirely new quality of light he encountered on the white immensity of the Norwegian snowy landscape, and painted his favourite views at different times of the day, exploring the effects of the rapidly changing winter light. This landscape portrays so vividly Monet’s ambition in the 1890s; as he described it, ‘the further I go, the more I understand that it is imperative to work a great deal to achieve what I seek: ‘instantaneity,’ above all […] the same light everywhere’ (quoted in Paul Hayes Tucker, Monet in the 90’s (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Fine Art, Boston, 1989, p. 3).