Monet and London - Views of the Thames at The Courtauld, London

Monet - Charing Cross Bridge. Smoke in the Fog; Impression

The Courtauld Gallery in London is currently showing "Monet and London - Views of the Thames" until 19 January 2025.  These are views of the Thames painted mostly from Monet's balcony at The Savoy Hotel beginning in 1899.  They focus on the three sites of Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. He was fascinated by the mix of fog and sunlight, combined with the smoke from London's industry and how it affected the light, colours and clarity of the views.

Monet - Charing Cross Bridge. Fog on the Thames

Monet - The Houses of Parliament. Effect of Fog, London

Monet - The Houses of Parliament, Sunset

Monet completed 37 paintings of views of the Thames which were exhibited in Paris in 1904 to great critical acclaim and commercial success, confirming his reputation as France's leading artist.  He wanted to exhibit the series in London in 1905 but it never happened.  This exhibition reunites 21 of those works in London as Monet had hoped to do all those years ago.

Many of the paintings are largely in pink and purple shades and some are quite yellow.  As we no longer have the smogs of yesteryear we can't know how true to life they are but they certainly have plenty of atmosphere. To see the same views in different atmospheric conditions is really interesting...

Monet - Waterloo Bridge, Effect of Sunlight in the Fog

Monet - Waterloo Bridge, Overcast Weather

Monet - Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect

As well as the Monet exhibition the Courtauld also has a permanent collection you can visit.  Here are some of my favourites. I love the angularity of Cezanne's painting of Lake Annecy...

Cezanne - Lac d'Annecy

and everything about The Card Players...

Cezanne - The Card Players

The texture in Van Gogh's painting and Frank Auerbach's make you want to run your fingers over the painted surface (but, of course, you can't!)...

Van Gogh - Peach Trees in Blossom (detail)

Frank Auerbach - Rebuilding the Cinema Leicester Square (detail)

Duncan Grant was apparently inspired by Cezanne - perhaps that's why I like this piece...

Duncan Grant - Still life - The Dinner Table

I'm drawn to the shape and colours of this painting, painted during the Second World War, offering a different view of the world but reminding us of the time with the poppies in the vase on the table... 

Ivon Hitchens - Balcony View, Iping Church

This is Lanyon's depiction of Halsetown, a village near St Ives in Cornwall.  Lanyon flew gliders.  Infact he died after a gliding accident.  I wonder if his view from above informs this abstract work...

Peter Lanyon - Halsetown

The Courtauld has an impressive staircase (lifts are also available)...

The Courtauld - Staircase

The Courtauld Gallery is part of Somerset House.  There are a number of cafes there including the Art Cafe at the Courtauld.  There are also lockers, toilets and a shop.  If you want to see the Monet exhibition, book well in advance as it is very popular.  Covent Garden, Charing Cross, Embankment and Temple Tube Stations are all quite close.  The Monet exhibition is in two rooms but there is also the permanent collection that you might like to visit while you're there.

Monet at York Art Gallery

Claude Monet - The Water-Lily Pond - 1899

 

As part of the celebrations of the National Gallery's 200th year, a number of its famous works have been loaned, from London, to regional galleries.  The Water-Lily Pond, painted in 1899, by Claude Monet (1840-1926) came north and was central to an exhibition at York Art Gallery from May to September 2024.

The picture, which is a cropped view with loads of texture from the thick brush strokes, depicts Monet's much loved water garden at his house in Giverny in France.  Monet was a founder of Impressionism, a 19th Century art movement concerned with painting ordinary subjects, often outdoors, accurately depicting light to create a picture that caught the essence of a scene rather than an accurate depiction.

Having imagined I had plenty of time to see this exhibition, I only managed to get there on the final day.  I don't think I was the only one who was in that position, as all the online tickets had sold out and there was a queue to get in!

Claude Monet - The Water-Lily Pond
Details showing texture

There was a short film of Monet painting in his garden at Giverny.  What struck me most about this was the fact he was smoking while painting and his cigarette had an very long end of ash which I kept expecting to see fall onto his paint palette.  Added texture - who knows?

Camille Corot
The Convent of Sant'onofrio on the Janiculum, Rome
1826

To accompany the exhibition there were works by artists who led the way in painting in the open air, as Monet did and also artists who were influenced by Monet's work and then new work by contemporary artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan, who was inspired by both Monet's The Water-Lily Pond and by the Japanese woodblock prints of which he was so fond.

Narcisse-Virgilio Diaz de la Pena
The Feast at Fontainebleau - 1865-70

Diaz (1807-1876) not only painted outdoors but was a core member of the Barbizon School, who were a group of painters who gathered near the village of Barbizon to paint the Forest of Fontainebleau.

Monet had a fondness for Japanese woodblock prints.  This one is by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)...

Utagawa Hiroshige
Shimotsuke Province: Mount Nikko, Urami Waterfall - 1853 

Ethel Walker (1861-1951) was inspired by the Impressionist Exhibitions she visited in Paris and this influenced her style...

Ethel Walker - Landscape at Robin Hood's Bay - 1942-48

It was also interesting to see that the canvas had been stitched together...

Ethel Walker - Landscape at Robin Hood's Bay detail

Leticia Marion Hamilton (1878-1964) was also influenced by the Impressionists, evidenced by this unusual view of Ouse Bridge and her painted textures ...

Leticia Marion Hamilton - Ouse Bridge, York - 1925-31

The Michaela Yearwood-Dan: Una Sinfonia series of paintings were alive with colour and texture incorporating ceramic petals and beads.  She took the seasons as her starting point and Monet's fascination with the changing quality of light.

I loved these large colourful canvases...

Michaela Yearwood-Dan
When the green turns to gold, I settle in your nook

Michaela Yearwood-Dan - Ready, Steady, GO!

Her paintings included ceramic flower petals...

Michaela Yearwood-Dan
Ready, Steady, GO! - detail

and beads...

Michaela Yearwood-Dan
Will you still love me tomorrow?

We are told that Michaela Yearwood-Dan's work draws on a range of influences: Blackness, queerness, femininity healing rituals and carnival culture and that she endeavours to build spaces of community, abundance and joy.  I certainly found her work very joyful.

There was lots more to see at the York Art Gallery including some particularly fine work by women artists.  In addition there is a large selection of British Studio Ceramics in the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) which is on the first floor.  I particularly liked this chap (see above) but I didn't catch his name.