Rouen Cathedral, West Façade
1894
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 100.1 x 65.9 cm (39 3/8 x 25 15/16 in.) framed: 121.6 x 88.3 cm (47 7/8 x 34 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Chester Dale Collection
Accession Number
1963.10.49
Art Historical Context
Claude Monet's *Rouen Cathedral, Westçade* (1894) is a luminous gem from his celebrated Rouen Cathedral series, where the artist obsessively captured the Gothic masterpiece in Normandy under varying light and weather. Painted during a period of intense experimentation in Giverny, this oil on canvas (100.1 x 659 cm) exemplifies Monet Impressionist mission to portray the ephemeral effects of atmosphere rather than static form. He produced around 30 views between 1892 and 1894, each a meditation on how sunlight transforms stone into a symphony of color. Monet's technique—loose, vibrant brushstro...
About the Artist
Claude Monet · 1840–1926
Claude Monet, born Oscar-Claude Monet on November 14, 1840, in Paris and raised in Le Havre, Normandy, began his artistic journey as a successful teenage caricaturist. His formal training started at the Le Havre secondary school of the arts in 1851, where he received his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochard. Around 1858, he met Eugène Boudin, who became his pivotal mentor, introducin...