The Neo Art Magazine

In 1905, Monet was working on material to be included in an important exhibition in London that has never taken place. Monet sold 24 of his Thames paintings during a successful exhibition in Paris the previous year, but he would not be able to bring enough paintings for a presentation in London. Being unhappy with the rest of the paintings, he dismissed the idea completely. Over one hundred years of history have passed by, but it seems that the same lost vision will be revived in the exhibition Monet and London: Views of the Thames at the Courtauld Gallery. For the first time, London—the city that awed Monet with its fog, architecture, and modernism—will also showcase paintings of London culture.

This exhibition does not merely evaluate Monet’s history with London but further the advancement of his imagination, which eventually led to his famous waterlily paintings. “The ambition of this show is to recreate the visitor impression that Monet himself wanted within the realm of his paintings,” says curator Karen Serres. Luckily, the Courtauld’s exhibition aims to ruthlessly honour Monet’s hope for his exhibition, which he had dreamed of centuries ago, surviving 18 original canvases displayed in even the most politically radical city of London and all the subsequent canvases and loans from the public collections in other parts such as the UK and Switzerland. These achieve what even the artist Monet himself wished for nearly 120 years ago.

Monet and London: A Fog-Intoxicating Reality

Monet’s conception of London dates back to 1870, when he sought refuge there to evade recruitment into the Franco-Prussian War. However, while there, he met the terrible fog of London. An atmosphere of healthy chimneys produced a thick brown-yellow haze that cut the outlines of buildings and bridges. In this atmosphere, one felt as if the sound, light, weather, and architecture were fused. Despite being a stark contrast to the sun-drenched landscapes of France, it significantly influenced the artist’s image.

Between 1899 and 1901, he made three longer stays in and out of London. Monet’s distinctive style of producing paintings of the same subject in a series was evident even during these trips. He repeated the same formulas for the river views, using nature’s light from dawn through dusk. The River Thames’ changing nature made it an ideal subject for these studies. Monet, notably, had three particular perspectives in mind: the smokey swirls from the South Bank chimneys, Charing Cross Bridge, and the Victorian architecture of Houses of Parliament.

This was the spirit of London, according to Monet. Charing Cross Bridge was full of rail traffic, South Bank was industrial, and the Houses of Parliament had political power. They heralded the coming of modernity; Monet then envisioned a London against the quietly impressionistic haze, where civilization was advancing faster than the surrounding murky mist could contain it.

Monet’s Thames paintings, however, are not only about the places depicted. They are also about light and color, where the sky, water, and buildings merge into one diffuse shape. As Serres has argued, these London works prepared the grounds for the enormous creative leaps that stunned everyone in Monet’s later years, especially the giant repertoire of Water Lilies. In other respects, the two fog-laden scenes of the thames and the watery gardens of Giverny are two sides of the same coin; they both get rid of the demarcation set aside for nature and the human-designed places, encouraging the viewer to partake in the fairy dust of light, water, and air.

Comparing His Work To That Of Some Great Artists

Some of Monet’s London drawings, however, embody his modernism as well as situate him in a history of Thames painting that Turner and James McNeill Whistler worked in. Both of these two painters, however, have used the Thames extensively in their works, simply in the most divergent fashions. Turner, who specialised himself in capturing the fusion of the elements of light plus the landscapes, had his first sights of the fog over the river and the changes in light in the early part of the nineteenth century, while Whistlers imagine the river at night as near utterly tonal and mood-based rather than representational.

Monet, in particular, stands out for his admiration for Turner, even though he tried to downplay it. “It’s kind of strange because he denied it,” Serres remarks, “perhaps simply to cover up lies and try to make his project more unique, but there is even no doubt that Turner influenced him quite a lot.” Monet’s Thames series, in which all forms become lost in the lightness of the air, is a sort of sequel to Turner’s legacy, but through the eyes of Impressionism, of course.

Whistler, too, had an influence on Monet, but then again, it was the changing of images from the Thames that was more vivid and filled with life than the muted movements of Whistler’s nocturnes. Instead, Monet invoked the British masters of light and atmosphere, with whom he humbled himself while making an attempt to stake his claim in Thames painting history.

A City of Modernity

Monet was not just captivated by London’s fog. The city, in his opinion, embodied the future—a centre of industrial development and cutting-edge structures. The burning chimneys along the southern banks, the steaming rail traffic of Charing Cross, and the lofty Houses of Parliament were all ships that cut the moorings of tradition and sailed out to the ever-changing seas. At the same time, however, Monet did not depict these buildings in crisp edges and straight lines. He instead chose softer approaches, painting these buildings in fog and smoke, thereby projecting the cityscape into a realm of utopia.

His works about London can be considered an antithesis to his ripe pastoralistic landscapes from France; for instance, his Papillon series with haystacks, Rouen Cathedral and her enormous gardens in Giverny. Whereas those works had beautiful nature and cultural elements, as well as finer touches of tradition, those regarding the Thames captured the pulsating life of the town and its emerging modernism. These London paintings are perhaps the best examples of Monet’s learning to reconcile his Impressionist style to the prevailing conditions of the world.

A Studio on the River Thames

These paintings depict people and places in London; however, the most notable aspect of the paintings is their atmospheric quality. The visitors of the Courtauld exhibition will be able to assess the validity of Monet’s visions of the city because a lot of those works were started not even 300 m away from the gallery at a temporary studio within the Savoy Hotel or across the river near St. Thomas’ Hospital. Monet often worked on more than one canvas and liberated those sticks rolling about so that upon them once more of a surmise.

However, his approach was one of industrial observation and modification, acknowledging that he was not interested in the actual Thames but rather its impressionist and, at times, illusiveness. This obsessive faithfulness to light, atmosphere, and detail turned him to be a deserting perfectionist. Monet was not pleased with many of the Thames impressions he had, and many of the canvases he painted regarding this theme had to be worked on long after his London visits were over, and the proposed show in that city was postponed further into the future than was reasonable.

Monet’s Desire Comes to Fruition: Realization of a One Hundred and Twenty Year Old Wish

The Courtauld Gallery has presented to its audience ‘Monet and London: Views of the Thames,’ which defies the common notion of exhibiting a single artist’s masterpiece. Rather, it has a strong historical perspective, focussing on trying to achieve a goal that Monet himself had set out to accomplish but was unable to. This is because, more than a hundred years ago, the artist in question had a brilliant idea of organising a big exhibition in London where one could see a series of his Thames paintings. And it can finally happen now. As it is said, every dream is achievable. They look forward to the introduction of the Courtauld exhibition, which will fulfil the forgotten wish of 120 years and enable the public to see what Monet had always wanted them to see.

The Courtauld’s Curatorial Success Achieved

Proceed to the Courtauld Gallery. Exhibition curator Karen Serres leads the Courtauld exhibition in a quest that even Monet could not accomplish himself: to house the considerable number of Thames paintings that are missing from Monet’s present collection, London, and showcase them as one entity to the public. It’s a big ask because such paintings are scattered across the globe in private homes, museums, and galleries. However, for this remarkable undertaking, the curators have now managed to locate and borrow 18 of the original canvases that the Paris exhibition was made of. Furthermore, three more paintings from the public collections in the UK and Switzerland will be added to the reconstruction, making the rather ambitious project of recreating almost all the paintings that Monet had aspired to put up for display a reality.

This is not only a logistical achievement but a qualitative one as well. The exhibition is the last chapter in Monet’s more than 100-year-old pupil dream, reorganising the London paintings to where they more so belong. For the first time, viewers in London will be able to see and experience what Monet intended: a monumental section of the Thames series on display as it was supposed to be shown. Many Monet fans stand outside admiring Monet’s beauty, but Courtauld has done what one of the most well-known artists in history was unable to do. It is a precious chance to be close to Monet’s vision of London.

An experience like no other

What is most compelling about this exhibition is precisely the thought that it could have been closer than ever to realizing Monet’s century-long fantasy. The dissolution of so many works in different private and public collections all over the world makes it hard to imagine them recollected again in such concentration. Most of these works are masterpieces that are not lent for blockbuster shows, while others have not been seen in public for over 30 years. Also falling within this time period is the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, which took place exactly 150 years ago and is the focus of this exhibition. Hence, this exhibition is not only an artistic exhibition but an important historical one.

In addition, the display provides a unique opportunity for the viewers, as both finished works and Monet’s process are available for their appreciation. The Thames series was more than just an anthology of sites; it was a detailed investigation of light, air, and sense itself. This repeated resourcefulness was beneficial to Monet, as it allowed him to do many variations on one theme at any time of the day or in different weather, wait until sunset, and work on The Thames through London fog-drenched light. As a result, what is produced is a new format of creation that does not limit itself to what landscape painting may usually cover, into the realm of the psyche and the senses.

Looking at the pictures based on this premise, the audience will have a better appreciation of how each of the works were painted, clearly the differences and movements from one painting to another, and more appreciably how Monet worked with light. The Thames series can be considered too an anticipation of what Monet would be doing later with regards to more complicated water lily pictures exploring lightness. The Courtauld display will positively lead people from these London works along the path to outstanding canvases towards the middle of the last century, which were painted by Monet.

A Longstanding Interaction Between Painter and Urban Space over the Last Hundred Years

This exhibition has emotional implications that are too heavy to ignore. Monet had an increasingly complicated love-hate relationship with London: he was attracted to a modern city’s picture and a world’s solitude, yet he wanted. Monet’s River Thames paintings occupy a space whereby modernisation was projected with respect to the late style that would emerge, and a backward glance was taken at influential forerunners like British Turner. The exhibition at Courtauld also spans these time spaces, allowing for the positioning of Monet’s works with the development of British painting and even modernism.

The Courtauld will allow the audience to walk through what could only be described as an experiential journey that Monet envisioned but did not witness come to life. They will face the canvasses that have been painted to a few hundreds, from a makeshift practice of painting at the Sole Savoy hotel or at the banks of the Thames. The paintings will capture the city’s physical elements, as well as Monet’s personal view of the city—misty, smoky, and light toyed with.

The Courtauld exhibition is able to reach a conclusion on behalf of not only the artist and audience, but also the city. This appeal will touch the hearts of not only art historians but also anyone who has gazed at London through the fog and perceived its transitory magical charm. One hundred and twenty years after Monet’s wish, every hope will finally come true, which will convey to the visitors in almost mystical terms the essence of the artist and the city he has worked in.