On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt

Monet painted this view of the Seine at Bennecourt in 1868. He was 28, living with Camille Doncieux in a village west of Paris, and he was painting the river landscapes that would lead within a few years to the style called Impressionism. This painting is one of the earliest works in which the characteristics of Impressionism are fully visible. A woman sits on the bank of the Seine, her back to the viewer, looking across the river. On the other side, a cluster of houses is visible among the trees, their reflections shimmering in the water. The sky is pale, the water smooth, and the whole surface of the painting is built in loose strokes of paint that capture the light rather than the details of the scene. The woman's dress is a single stroke of white, the trees are masses of green applied in dabs, and the reflections in the water are vertical streaks of color. Monet had been painting along the Seine since the early 1860s, but this painting marks a turning point. He had recently abandoned the smooth, finished surface of his earlier work in favor of a looser, more direct technique. He was painting outdoors, working directly from the subject, and he was paying attention to the effects of light on water and foliage. The painting was made at Bennecourt, a village on a bend in the Seine about 50 kilometers northwest of Paris, where Monet and Camille stayed in the summer of 1868. Monet was born in Paris in 1840 and grew up in Le Havre. He moved to Paris in 1859 and met Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille at the studio of Charles Gleyre. The group began painting together along the Seine and in the Forest of Fontainebleau, developing the techniques that would become Impressionism. The first Impressionist exhibition was held in 1874, six years after this painting was made, but the style was already forming in these early river landscapes. Oil on canvas, 81 by 101 centimeters, roughly 32 by 40 inches. Monet painted with a textured surface, building the trees and the water in thick strokes of paint. The woman on the bank is barely indicated, her form dissolving into the landscape around her. The reflections in the water are the most abstract part of the painting, with the colors of the trees and the sky broken into vertical streaks on the surface of the river. The horizontal format and river subject make this print work well in a living room or dining room with modern or traditional furniture. The soft palette suits a room with cool-toned walls. A white frame keeps the painting's light palette clear. The 16x20 or 18x24 size gives the reflections and the trees enough detail to appreciate up close. The painting is in the Art Institute of Chicago, where it has been since 1922. This is a public domain artwork. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.