Claude Monet

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist in October 1882)

A.A. Hébrard, Paris (by 1905)

Prince de Wagram, Paris

Walter Halvorsen, Oslo (1918)

Justin K. Thannhauser, Munich, Berlin and New York (acquired from the above circa 1928-29)

Private Collection (sold: Sotheby's, London, April 2, 1979, lot 23 )

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

Art Invest XVI (sold:  Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, May 20, 1982, no. 199A)

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

St. Petersburg and Moscow, Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in Russia, Exposition d'art français, 1899, no. 234

Le Havre, Exposition de la Société des amis des arts, 1902

Berlin, Paul Cassirer, XI. Jahrgang. VI. Ausstellung, 1909, no. II

Munich, Exposition d'art musulman, 1910

The Netherlands; Sweden; Norway, Art français, 1918

Berlin, Galerie Thannhauser, Claude Monet, 1928, no. 33

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Biographie et Catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Paris, 1979, no. 766, illustrated p. 81

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Catalogue raisonné, vol. V, Lausanne, 1991, no. 766, catalogued p. 40

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Cologne, 1996, no. 766, illustrated p. 286

When Monet discovered the quiet village of Pourville, where the present work was painted, he wrote to Alice Hoschedé that it was set in “a very beautiful region” where he “couldn’t be closer to the sea […] I only regret not coming here sooner” (quoted in Paul Tucker, Claude Monet: Life and Art, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 109).  Painted during low tide, the present composition shows the meandering line of the river, its S-shaped flow guiding the viewer’s eye towards the sea.  The lack of human activity and the simplicity of nature enabled the artist to focus on his painterly technique.  The river is executed in quick, spontaneous brushstrokes, and the blue and green tones of the water are combined with dabs of white, reflecting the strong summer sunshine on its surface.

Rivière de Pourville, marée basse depicts the little coastal river of the Scie, an estuary of the Seine, flowing over the Pourville beach before merging into the sea.  The landscape on the coast of Normandy, including the town of Pourville, was among Monet’s favorite subjects in the 1880s.  Its wide expanses of sea and sky and the simplicity and starkness of nature appealed to the artist’s fascination with space, as well as with the pure elements of earth, water and sky.  Apart from two tiny sailboats visible on the horizon, Monet eliminated allusions to human presence and signs of modern life, in order to achieve a more direct engagement with nature.