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Towing a Boat, Honfleur
186421 3/4 x 32 5/16 in. (55.2 x 82.1 cm)
Claude Monet
France (Paris, 1840 – 1926, Giverny, France)
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Gift of Marie C. and Joseph C. Wilson
Accession Number:
1991.35
Location: Currently on view
"All that is painted directly, at a given moment, has a force, power, and vitality which can never be duplicated in a studio." --Eugène Boudin, to his student Claude Monet
Claude Monet’s early paintings were solidly grounded in the work of the preceding generation of French landscape painters called the Barbizon school. Their insistence on painting en plein air, or out of doors, led to Monet’s passion for capturing the transience of light.
Towing a Boat, Honfleur, painted ten years before the term Impressionism was coined, captures the moment that night overtakes sunset. It is one of the earliest of Monet’s many seascapes. As an experiment in reproducing the changing effects of light under different atmospheric conditions, the painting shows his process of abstracting nature into simplified forms and exaggerated color contrasts.
[Label copy from Monet: Vision and Process exhibition, 2018]
Claude Monet’s early paintings were solidly grounded in the work of the preceding generation of French landscape painters called the Barbizon school. Their insistence on painting en plein air, or out of doors, led to Monet’s passion for capturing the transience of light.
Towing a Boat, Honfleur, painted ten years before the term Impressionism was coined, captures the moment that night overtakes sunset. It is one of the earliest of Monet’s many seascapes. As an experiment in reproducing the changing effects of light under different atmospheric conditions, the painting shows his process of abstracting nature into simplified forms and exaggerated color contrasts.
[Label copy from Monet: Vision and Process exhibition, 2018]
Marks
Backing board. Back of canvas not seen 7/08.
Provenance
Gift of the artist? to his brother, Léon Monet, Rouen; Carcano, Paris; Mayer, Switzerland; Wildenstein Gallery, New York, 1970; purchased from them by Marie C. and Joseph C. Wilson, Rochester, New York; their gift to the Gallery in 1991
Keywords
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Additional Images
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Claude Monet 3/14/1996 - 6/16/1996
- Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890 11/1/2000 - 9/8/2001
- Monet: A View from the River 10/6/2001 - 1/6/2002
- The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings 3/17/2007 - 9/16/2007
- In Pursuit of Light and Leisure: Impressionist Masterpieces Memorial Art Gallery 3/14/2008 - 6/29/2008
- Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River 10/26/2014 - 2/1/2015
- Daubigny, Monet, van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape 2/19/2016 - 5/29/2016
- Monet: The Early Years 10/16/2016 - 5/29/2017
- Monet’s Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process 10/7/2018 - 1/6/2019
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Memorial Art Gallery. Gallery Notes. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1935-1995.
- Article Author: Seiberling, Grace. Article Title: Monet's "Hauling a Boat, Honfleur". Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Porticus. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery Volume Number: 17-19 Issue Date: 1994-96. Page Number: 38-43
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. David Brenneman. Monet: A View from the River. Atlanta, GA: High Museun of Art, Atlanta, 2001.
- Article Author: Melikian, Souren. Article Title: Rapid, Splendid 'Impressionism'. Article Scope: Mention. The New York Times. New York, NY: H.J. Raymond & Co Issue Date: November 4, 2000.
- The Impressionists: The Other French Revolution. New York, NY: A&E Biography
- Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Stephan Koja. Claude Monet. Munich, New York: Prestel, 1996.
- Article Title: Art Ambassadors. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. MAGazine. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery Issue Date: September-October 1996. Page Number: 15
- Article Scope: Catalogue Raisonné Entry. Daniel Wildenstein. Monet: Catalogue Raisonné. Köln, Germany: Taschen, 1996. Volume Number: 2
- Article Author: Fronek, Joseph . Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Richard Brettell and Stephen F. Eisenman. Nineteenth Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Volume Number: 1 Page Number: 319, Figure Number: 84d
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Mr. James A. Ganz and Richard Kendall. The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.
- Norio Shimada. Claude Monet. Japan, 2001.
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Richard Brettell. Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
- Article Author: Eisenman, Stephen F.. Article Title: Monet and the Authonomy of Painting. Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Rodolphe Rapetti. Monet: Atti del Convegno. Conegliano, Italy: Linea d'Ombra Libri, 2003. Page Number: 140-141
- Metropolitan: A Publication of the Arts & Cultural Council For Greater Rochester. Rochester, NY: Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester
- Carole McNamara. The Lens of Impressionism: Photography and Painting along the Normandy Coast, 1850-1874. Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2009.
- Article Scope: Entry and reproduction. Helga Kessler Aurisch and Tanya Paul. Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River. Houston, TX: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2014.
- Article Author: van Dijk, Maite. Article Title: Daubigny and the Impressionists in the 1860s. Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Daubigny Monet Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape. Cincinnati, OH: Taft Museum of Art, 2015. Page Number: 49-50, 171, Figure Number: 36
- Kimbell Art Museum Calendar. Fort Worth, TX: Kimbell Art Museum
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. George T. M. Shackelford. Monet: The Early Years. Fort Worth, TX: Kimbell Art Museum, 2016.
- Article Author: Seiberling, Grace. Article Title: Looking at Waterloo Bridge. Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Nancy Norwood, ed. Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process. Rochester, NY: RIT Press, 2018. Page Number: 33, Figure Number: 4, p.33
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Monet/Boudin. Madrid: Muséo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2018.
- Agnes Husslein-Arco, ed. Looking at Monet: The Great Impressionist and his Influence on Austrian Art. Vienna: Belvedere, 2014.
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Art Alive: Towing a Boat, Honfleur
Using MAG's Learning to Look/Looking to Learn philosophy, guide students' looking and use open-ended questions to elicit personal responses. Includes many suggestions for classroom activities and connections to reinforce ELA skills.
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