Garden at Sainte-Adresse

Monet spent the summer of 1867 at his family's home in Sainte-Adresse, a seaside resort near Le Havre. He was twenty-six, broke, and trying to avoid his pregnant mistress in Paris. His father sat for him on the terrace, wearing a panama hat, and other relatives posed as well. The painting that resulted is one of the earliest fully realized Impressionist canvases. The composition is built in three horizontal bands: a flower-filled terrace in the foreground, the sea with sailing boats in the middle, and a pale blue sky above. Two figures sit on the terrace at the left, and two stand at the right. The man at the right, standing with his back to the viewer, is Monet's father. The flags, one French tricolor and one red, break the horizon line and add a note of holiday festivity. The light is bright and flat, the colors high-keyed. There are almost no shadows. Monet painted this from an elevated viewpoint, probably a second-floor window, looking down at the terrace and out to sea. The bird's-eye perspective and the flat bands of color reflect his admiration for Japanese woodblock prints, which he had seen for the first time in Paris that year. The composition is daring for 1867. The horizon line sits high on the canvas, and the terrace tilts upward toward the viewer in a way that defies conventional perspective. This is the summer before Monet's first major setbacks. In 1868, he would attempt suicide by throwing himself into the Seine. In 1869, he and Renoir would paint together at La Grenouillere and develop the broken brushwork that would become Impressionism. Garden at Sainte-Adresse is a year or two before that breakthrough, but the ingredients are already here: the bright light, the flat composition, the concern with how color works in outdoor conditions. Oil on canvas, 98 by 130 centimeters, roughly 39 by 51 inches. Monet painted with short, visible brushstrokes, building the flowers in dots of red, pink, and white against the green terrace. The sea is a band of blue-green with small white highlights for the boats' sails. The sky is a smooth wash of pale blue, unusual for Monet, who typically built skies with more texture. This print belongs in a sunroom, a breakfast nook, or any room with natural light. The blue and green palette with accents of red and white works with white walls, wicker furniture, and linen curtains. The horizontal composition suits a wide wall or a space above a sideboard. The 18x24 size gives the figures and flowers enough room to read clearly. The painting entered the Met's collection in 1967, purchased at Christie's in London with funds from friends of the museum. It is on view in Gallery 818 at the Met Fifth Avenue.