Art Of The Day Weekly
#356 - from 18 September 2014 to 24 September 2014
Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant, 1872, oil on canvas, 50x65 cm, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris © Christian Baraja, former Collection Ernest Hoschedé - former Collection Georges de Bellio.
Only an impression?
PARIS – The name is known the world over, but who really knows where it started? It was a painting by Monet, kept at the Marmottan museum that helped baptize –in a non-flattering way- the Impressionist movement. The Impression, soleil levant (Impression, rising sun) played such a seminal role that it deserved to be analyzed inside out. Art historians, genealogists and meteorologists (who remembers it was called Impression, soleil couchant, i.e. Impression, rising sun, until 1865?) contributed in giving clues about the painting, from its conception (1872 or 1873?) to the moment it was hung in the museum, including the various transactions. In 1878 the painting was sold for 210 francs: needless to say its value has somewhat increased since then.
• Impression, soleil levant, at the musée Marmottan Monet, from 18 September 2014 to 18 January 2015