Claude Monet

Estate of the artist
Michel Monet, by descent
M. July, Dreux (circa 1949)
Sale: Milan, Galleria Brera, 13th-15th November 1962
Sale: Paris, Palais Galliera, 1st-2nd April 1963, lot 71
O'Hana Gallery, London (1963)
Sale: Geneva, Galerie Motte, 28th-29th June 1968, lot 75
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

In the spring of 1894 Monet returned to Giverny after his second sojourn in Rouen, where he painted his celebrated series of the cathedral façade.  While this had provided Monet with a formidable subject,  the artist had complained about city living and longed for the quiet beauty of Giverny.  He at one point remarked to his wife, Alice, 'The cathedral is admirable, but it is terribly dry and hard to do; it will be a delight for me to paint en plein air' (quoted in P. H. Tucker, Monet in the 90s, The Series Paintings, 1989, Boston, p. 177).

Tucker notes that Monet 'clearly indulged himself in the beauties of the countryside that spring...'  (ibid., p. 177) and the La Seine à Port-Villez, Temps Clair series is no exception.  Monet painted seven views of the Seine near Port- Villez, a small river town on the West bank of the Seine, just outside of Giverny.  Each of these was executed between 4 and 9 in the morning, exploring the effects of light and colour. 

Unlike Monet's 1883 works depicting the same location, the present series is painted looking upstream.  The cluster of trees is situated off to the right as the hills gently cascade into the reflective surface of the water.  Elements have been reduced to form and a gentle, atmospheric light inhabits the picture, evoking the lessons of the Rouen Cathedral series.

Fig. 1, Claude Monet, The Seine à Port-Villez, 1894, Tate Gallery, London

Fig. 2, Island in the Seine near Giverny