The Houses of Parliament, Sunset

Monet painted The Houses of Parliament, Sunset in 1903, during his second campaign in London. He had been coming to London since 1899, staying at the Savoy Hotel on the Thames, and painting the city's bridges and landmarks in the fog. He produced over 100 paintings of London during his three visits, divided into three series: the Houses of Parliament, Charing Cross Bridge, and Waterloo Bridge. The painting shows the Houses of Parliament from across the Thames, silhouetted against a sunset sky. The building is reduced to a dark, jagged shape, with the towers and the spires barely distinguishable against the light. The sky fills most of the canvas, painted in layers of orange, pink, and purple, with the sun's light diffused through the fog. The water of the Thames is painted in reflections of the sky, with the colors of the sunset mirrored in the rippling surface. Monet worked from his room at the Savoy Hotel, on the sixth floor, which gave him a view up and down the Thames. He painted at prescribed times of day to capture specific light effects, often complaining about the rapidity with which conditions changed. He wrote to his wife Alice: 'I can't begin to describe the extraordinary things I'm seeing... the fog gives it its magnificent breadth.' The fog of London was not a hindrance to Monet but a subject in itself: it dissolved the forms of the buildings and the bridges, turning them into shapes of color and light. The Houses of Parliament series comprises at least 19 paintings, all showing the same view from the Savoy Hotel but at different times of day and in different weather conditions. In each painting, the building is reduced to a dark silhouette, and the sky and the water carry the emotional weight of the composition. The series is one of Monet's most abstract works: the subject is not the Houses of Parliament but the effects of light and atmosphere on a familiar landmark. Monet did not finish the London paintings on site. He brought them back to his studio at Giverny and worked on them for years, adjusting the colors and the surfaces until they matched his memory of the light. He wrote to his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in 1904: 'I have never been so unsure of my work... I need to see them all together to judge them.' The final paintings were exhibited at Durand-Ruel's gallery in 1904, where they were received with critical acclaim. Oil on canvas, 81 by 92 centimeters. Monet painted the sky in thick, overlapping layers of orange, pink, and purple, with the colors mixed on the canvas rather than on the palette. The Houses of Parliament are painted in a single, dark silhouette of blue and purple, with the towers suggested by the shape of the silhouette. The water is painted in horizontal strokes that reflect the colors of the sky, with the reflections broken by small strokes of darker color. The surface has the rich, encrusted quality of a painting built over many sessions. The horizontal format and warm palette make this print work well in a living room, dining room, or bedroom. The oranges, pinks, and purples pair with white walls, warm lighting, and rooms with a dramatic or romantic mood. The 18x24 size is the best choice, as the composition needs width to read. The painting has a luminous, atmospheric quality that suits rooms with a warm or contemplative mood. The painting entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington as part of the Chester Dale Collection. This is a public domain artwork, from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The image is released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed.