GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Claude Monet made the first sketches for this painting from just below his own garden at Vétheuil, looking across the Seine to the town of Lavacourt on the opposite bank. Monet was struggling financially, and, as he wrote, he was seeking to “do something wiser, more bourgeois.” In a deliberate attempt to reach a larger public and market, he submitted the traditionally formulated Seine at Lavacourt to the 1880 Salon. It was accepted, but the canvas was poorly hung and never attracted much attention except from writer Émile Zola, the vocal advocate of impressionism, who described it as “an exquisite note of light and open air.” In the same year, Monet submitted another, more audacious scene, which was refused. He would never again offer a painting to the Salon.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., "The Seine at Lavacourt," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 199.
NOTES
Claude Monet made the first sketches for this painting from just below his own garden at Vétheuil, looking across the Seine to the town of Lavacourt on the opposite bank. Monet was struggling financially, and, as he wrote, he was seeking to “do something wiser, more bourgeois.” In a deliberate attempt to reach a larger public and market, he submitted the traditionally formulated Seine at Lavacourt to the 1880 Salon. It was accepted, but the canvas was poorly hung and never attracted much attention except from writer Émile Zola, the vocal advocate of impressionism, who described it as “an exquisite note of light and open air.” In the same year, Monet submitted another, more audacious scene, which was refused. He would never again offer a painting to the Salon.
2012 guide, page 199.
Broad horizontal bands of sky and water intersect with clusters of houses and trees, creating a sense of calm and order within the painting. The leafy willow tree in the center, reflected dramatically in the surface of the water, is a harbinger of the play of reflection, symmetry, and repetition that would characterize Claude Monet’s later series paintings of haystacks, poplars, and water lilies. Monet painted the first sketches for this painting from just below his own garden at Vetheuil, directly across the Seine from Lavacourt.
The Seine at Lavacourt is one of two landscapes that Monet submitted to the Salon in 1880. The painting was accepted, and he seems to have had mixed feelings about this official success. Monet described this work as “something more discreet, more bourgeois,” an obvious contrast to his freer, less finished paintings.
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2011.
Dorothy Kosinski, "The Seine at Lavacourt", in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 111.
Monet executed The Seine at Lavacourt while living in Vétheuil, outside Paris, during the 1880s. This relatively large-scale composition was surely completed in the studio, based on initial plein-air sketches. Indeed by the late 1870s and 1880s, the aesthetic principles originally at the heart of the impressionist movement—a focus on plein-air composition and the capturing of fleeting effects of light and color with deftly orchestrated individual brushstrokes—lost some of their importance as the artists followed their individual courses of developement.
The strong horizontal axis of The Seine at Lavacourt is interrupted by the central inverted-pyramid of trees and their reflection on the water's surface. This geometric structure invests the painting with calm and order, complementing the harmonious overall palette of spring green and delicate shades of blue. There was, perhaps, a practical inspiration for the careful structure in this composition. Monet struggled financially during these years, and to expand his public market, he attempted to reenter the official painting Salong. The central motif of shrubbery and its reflection should remind us, however, of the almost abstract compositions—haystacks, poplars, water lilies—which came to dominate Monet's development in the 1880s, 1890s, and first decades of the twentieth century.
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Artist/designers
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Geography
Depicted location: Seine River (France): TGN: 7009707
Depicted location: Lavacourt [not in ULAN]
Depicted location and place of origin: Vétheuil (inhabited place/France): TGN: 7008041
Process/materials
Historical periods
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Collections smARTphone tour; Dr. Heather MacDonald discusses The Seine at Lavacourt by Claude Monet (DMA collection 938.4.M)
12936998: UMO
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WEB RESOURCES
- The National Gallery, London~Check out Lavacourt under Snow by Monet.
- YouTube~Watch this video of Monet painting en plein air, or outdoors, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
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General Description
Claude Monet made the first sketches for this painting from just below his own garden at Vétheuil, looking across the Seine to the town of Lavacourt on the opposite bank. Monet was struggling financially, and, as he wrote, he was seeking to “do something wiser, more bourgeois.” In a deliberate attempt to reach a larger public and market, he submitted the traditionally formulated Seine at Lavacourt to the 1880 Salon. It was accepted, but the canvas was poorly hung and never attracted much attention except from writer Émile Zola, the vocal advocate of impressionism, who described it as “an exquisite note of light and open air.” In the same year, Monet submitted another, more audacious scene, which was refused. He would never again offer a painting to the Salon.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., "The Seine at Lavacourt," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 199.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- The National Gallery, London~Check out Lavacourt under Snow by Monet.
- YouTube~Watch this video of Monet painting en plein air, or outdoors, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Notes
Claude Monet made the first sketches for this painting from just below his own garden at Vétheuil, looking across the Seine to the town of Lavacourt on the opposite bank. Monet was struggling financially, and, as he wrote, he was seeking to “do something wiser, more bourgeois.” In a deliberate attempt to reach a larger public and market, he submitted the traditionally formulated Seine at Lavacourt to the 1880 Salon. It was accepted, but the canvas was poorly hung and never attracted much attention except from writer Émile Zola, the vocal advocate of impressionism, who described it as “an exquisite note of light and open air.” In the same year, Monet submitted another, more audacious scene, which was refused. He would never again offer a painting to the Salon.
2012 guide, page 199.
Broad horizontal bands of sky and water intersect with clusters of houses and trees, creating a sense of calm and order within the painting. The leafy willow tree in the center, reflected dramatically in the surface of the water, is a harbinger of the play of reflection, symmetry, and repetition that would characterize Claude Monet’s later series paintings of haystacks, poplars, and water lilies. Monet painted the first sketches for this painting from just below his own garden at Vetheuil, directly across the Seine from Lavacourt.
The Seine at Lavacourt is one of two landscapes that Monet submitted to the Salon in 1880. The painting was accepted, and he seems to have had mixed feelings about this official success. Monet described this work as “something more discreet, more bourgeois,” an obvious contrast to his freer, less finished paintings.
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2011.
Dorothy Kosinski, "The Seine at Lavacourt", in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 111.
Monet executed The Seine at Lavacourt while living in Vétheuil, outside Paris, during the 1880s. This relatively large-scale composition was surely completed in the studio, based on initial plein-air sketches. Indeed by the late 1870s and 1880s, the aesthetic principles originally at the heart of the impressionist movement—a focus on plein-air composition and the capturing of fleeting effects of light and color with deftly orchestrated individual brushstrokes—lost some of their importance as the artists followed their individual courses of developement.
The strong horizontal axis of The Seine at Lavacourt is interrupted by the central inverted-pyramid of trees and their reflection on the water's surface. This geometric structure invests the painting with calm and order, complementing the harmonious overall palette of spring green and delicate shades of blue. There was, perhaps, a practical inspiration for the careful structure in this composition. Monet struggled financially during these years, and to expand his public market, he attempted to reenter the official painting Salong. The central motif of shrubbery and its reflection should remind us, however, of the almost abstract compositions—haystacks, poplars, water lilies—which came to dominate Monet's development in the 1880s, 1890s, and first decades of the twentieth century.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location: Seine River (France): TGN: 7009707
Depicted location: Lavacourt [not in ULAN]
Depicted location and place of origin: Vétheuil (inhabited place/France): TGN: 7008041
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
Collections smARTphone tour; Dr. Heather MacDonald discusses The Seine at Lavacourt by Claude Monet (DMA collection 938.4.M)
12936998: UMO
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