Claude Monet - Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog) [1903-04]

Claude Monet - Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog) [1903-04], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In the autumn of 1899 and the early months of 1900 and of 1901, Monet executed a series of views of the Thames River in London. From his room at the Savoy Hotel, he painted Waterloo Bridge to the east, and Charing Cross Bridge to the west; beginning in February 1900, he set up his easel on a terrace at Saint Thomas's Hospital across the river, reserving time in the late afternoon to depict the Houses of Parliament.

While in London, Monet produced nearly a hundred canvases, reportedly moving from one to another as the light changed. He continued to work on these paintings in his studio at Giverny. In May 1904, thirty-seven were exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris, including this view of the Houses of Parliament cloaked in dense fog.

[Metropolitan Museum of Art - Oil on canvas, 81.3 x 92.4 cm]