Claude Monet

Michel Monet, Giverny (acquired by descent from the artist) 

Katia Granoff, Paris

Private Collection, France and New York (acquired by 1964)

Thence by descent to the present owner

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. III, Lausanne and Paris, 1979, no. 1314, p. 154; p. 155, illustrated

Joachim Pissarro, Monet’s Cathedral: Rouen 1892-1894, New York, 1990, p. 11, illustrated (dated 1892)

Exh. Cat., Boston, Museum of Replica Handbags s, Monet in the ‘90s: The Series Paintings, 1990, fig. 68, p. 156, illustrated; p. 157 (titled Rouen from Mont-Sainte Catherine)

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue Raisonné, vol. III, Cologne, 1996, no. 1314, p. 525, illustrated; p. 526 

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, or the Triumph of Impressionism, vol. I, Cologne, 1999, p. 283

Ronald R. Bernier, Monument, Moment, and Memory: Monet’s Cathedral in Fin de Siècle France, Lewisburg, 2007, p. 95, note 8

Dating to circa 1892, Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine was painted during Claude Monet’s visit to the city of Rouen the same year. One of the first works executed during that pivotal trip, it forms a critical part of the artist’s exploratory process which culminated in his celebrated series depicting the majestic Gothic façade of the Rouen cathedral, widely considered as the triumph of the Impressionist movement.

With the picturesque Seine flowing through the middle of the city, its wonderfully preserved, dramatic medieval architecture, and bustling atmosphere as a trade center and the capital of Normandy, Rouen had served as a source of inspiration for artists across centuries. Monet’s close friend Camille Pissarro compared its beauty to that of Venice, as Christopher Lloyd describes: “...for Pissarro, Rouen possessed a potency that Venice had once exerted, and indeed continues to exert, on the European consciousness. In both cities there was a similar magic in the effects derived from the aesthetic relationship between the buildings and the water—in Rouen the Seine, and in Venice the lagoon or the canals” (Christopher Lloyd, Pissarro, Geneva, 1981, p. 88) (see fig. 2).

It was Pissarro who had first introduced Monet to the vista in the present work, as recorded in a letter the former wrote to his son in October 1883: “…yesterday I was paid a visit by Monet, his brother and his son, by Durand-Ruel and his son. We spent the day together in Déville, on a high hill. There we saw the most splendid landscape that a painter could ever dream of: a view of Rouen, in the distance, with the Seine flowing, unfolding, as calm as a mirror, sunny slopes, splendid foregrounds: it was magical [feérique]. No doubt, I will go back to this village to paint there: it is marvelous” (quoted in Joachim Pissarro, Monet’s Cathedral: Rouen, 1892-1894, 1990, p. 12) (see fig. 3).

A native of Normandy, Monet visited Rouen frequently since childhood and painted it for the first time over two decades prior (see fig. 4). On this occasion, Monet arrived in the city in early February 1892 and remained there until April. His visit was initially motivated by family matters: following the untimely death of his half-sister Maria, who had inherited a number of his works from their father, the artist was now keen, with the help of his brother Léon, to buy these paintings back from their mother. As Joachim Pissarro notes, “Their business completed, Léon invited Claude Monet to return with him to Déville for a family visit. Monet, however, was careful not to let personal matters override his need to get back to work, and, rather than stay at Léon’s home, he took a room at the Hôtel d’Angleterre in Rouen, not far from the cathedral. From here he went out in search of a motif and […] began work with the two panoramic views of Rouen and the view onto the south side of the cathedral through the Rue de l’Épicerie” (ibid., p. 15).

Only a handful of early Rouen canvases are known. These include the present work, as well as a markedly more sketch-like version rendered from the same viewpoint, Vue de Rouen, in the collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (see fig. 5); La Rue de L’Épicerie à Rouen (see fig. 6), and two further works depicting the foggy riverbank of the Seine.

These oils, combined with a number of pencil drawings Monet sketched out at the same time, provide a unique insight into the artist’s working process during this period, as discussed by Richard Thomson: “His creative procedures – scouting motifs, settling on subjects, choosing viewpoints, observing variations of light, requiring ever-more frequent changes of canvas, reworking in the studio at Giverny—were gradually evolving” (Exh. Cat., London, National Gallery, Monet and Architecture, 2018, p. 155). They also underscore that the Rouen Cathedral series, which shortly followed thereafter, was by no means “a premediated subject”. Rather, it was the result of a conscious and laborious search for a subject that would best allow Monet to address the concerns at the heart of his artistic quest (Joachim Pissarro, Monet’s Cathedral: Rouen, 1892-1894, 1990, p. 15).

While most of the early Rouen canvases from 1892 focused on capturing the city’s specific viewpoints and architectural elements—acting as part of Monet’s process of scouting for location—Monet here focuses more on the transient effects of weather and time of the day on the city’s topography. He chooses not to depict the Seine or the more verdant section of the city that immediately surrounds it. Instead, Monet conveys the transformation of the surrounding scenery—the valley, the rooftops and the cathedral’s spire—under the soft, hazy sunshine that envelops them. The cathedral spire, the smaller towers and rooftops—the smaller spire on the right likely denoting the Church of Saint-Maclou – also serve as important vertical elements, endowing the present composition with a sense of pictorial rhythm.

It is through Monet’s masterful rendering of the sky and air in the present work—using soft, feathery brushstrokes to capture the subtle gradations of tone as the sun and fog transform the scene—that one perceives the artist's deep fascination with the fleeting atmospheric effects of this great northern city and its landscape. After experimenting with various locations and viewpoints, Monet ultimately focused on depicting these effects in his iconic canvases of the Rouen Cathedral, its imposing medieval façade providing the perfect backdrop for their most potent expression. Integral to the working process that resulted in the creation of his arguably most celebrated and pictorially innovative series, Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine is an important canvas from a crucial period in Monet’s career. Remaining in the esteemed Schlumberger collection for over sixty years, the present work comes to auction for the first time.