Claude Monet

(possibly) Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from Monet in May 1884)
(possibly) Georges Petit, Paris (acquired circa 1886)
Collection Spencer (acquired circa 1891)
Durand-Ruel (1891)
Martin A. Ryerson, Chicago (1891)
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (a bequest from the above in 1933. Sale: Christie's, New York, 17th May 1983, lot 19)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 14th May 1985, lot 30
Purchased at the above sale by the family of the present owner

(possibly) Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 4e exposition internationale de peinture, 1885, no. 65
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 5e exposition internationale de peinture, 1886
New York, Union League Club, Monet, 1891, no. 60
Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Institue of Arts, Modern French Paintings, 1921, no. 14
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings Loaned to the Art Institute of Chicago by M. A. Ryerson, 1925, no. 2145
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Monet, 1975, no. 60, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Vue du Cap Martin)
Forth Worth, Kimbell Art Museum & New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Monet and the Mediterranean, 1997-98, no. 37, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

(possibly) Félix Fénéon, Les Impressionnistes en 1886, Paris, October 1886, p. 34
P. H., 'L'Exposition de Monet', in L'Art dans les Deux Mondes, 28th February 1891, p. 173
(possibly) Gustave Geffroy, Claude Monet: sa vie, son temps, son oeuvre, Paris, 1922, p. 109
M. C., 'Monets in the Art Institute', in Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, February 1925, p. 19
Luigina Rossi Bortolatto, L'Opera completa di Claude Monet, Milan, 1966, no. 278, illustrated p. 106 (titled Veduta da Cap Martin)
Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné, Lausanne & Paris, 1979, vol. II, no. 889, illustrated p. 127
Luigina Rossi Bortolatto & Janine Bailly-Herzberg, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Monet, Paris, 1981, no. 271, illustrated p. 106
Claude Monet at the Time of Giverny (exhibition catalogue), Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris, 1983, fig. 11, illustrated in colour p. 29
Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné, Lausanne, 1991, vol. V, addendum p. 42
Marianne Alphant, Claude Monet, une vie dans le paysage, Paris, 1993, p. 395
Monet: A Retrospective (exhibition catalogue), Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1994, fig. 14, illustrated p. 226
Daniel Wildenstein, Monet. Catalogue raisonné, Cologne, 1996, vol. II, no. 889, illustrated p. 332

Having completed a large commission of decorative panels for the luxurious apartment of his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, a project which at times led him to frustration and exasperation, in December 1883 Monet decided to leave Paris and take a trip to the Mediterranean. He embarked on his journey in January of the following year, and spent three months between Italy, Monaco and France. The last week of his trip saw Monet in the French town of Menton, close to the Italian border, where he painted La Route rouge près de Menton and several other views of the sea and the town surrounded by lush vegetation. The artist originally planned to travel in the company of Renoir, who had a good knowledge of the region, however he later decided that he preferred to be alone in order to be able to concentrate on his painting.

 

Monet spent the majority of his Mediterranean journey in Italy, producing a number of views of the town of Bordighera and the surrounding landscape. In a letter to his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel he wrote: 'I am certain that I will bring back interesting things, for everywhere all is beauty and the weather is superb' (quoted in Monet and the Mediterranean (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 30), and his Italian views reflect this delight with the rich nature and the unique quality of light in the region. Invigorated by this new environment, Monet worked with a new found energy and produced more than one painting a day. On 7^th April he left Italy and arrived in Menton, where he immediately continued working, and wrote in a letter to Alice Hoschedé that he might be able to finish one or two of the paintings started there. With the wonderful weather, however, Monet completed most of them, and on 15^th April left for Giverny. Back at his studio, he painted a self-portrait, showing one of the paintings of the landscape around Menton in the background.

 

As Joachim Pissarro described: 'Hiring a horse and carriage, Monet headed west toward Menton and Monte Carlo on the French coast. These two sites were not entirely new to Monet, as he had visited them with Renoir a few months before. In fact, some of his earliest pictures of the Mediterranean were executed during that earlier visit. As usual, Monet found many motifs to which he wanted to return, particularly one in Cap Martin. Later, Monet visited Cap Martin on his way back to Giverny and produced several paintings [including the present work]' (J. Pissarro in ibid., p. 35). Discussing Monet's works executed in Monte Carlo and Menton, Joachim Pissarro further observed: 'The principal difference between these works and those executed in Italy is that in the Italian works the sea plays a very limited role; here, back on the French coast, in contrast, the sea, which Monet referred to as ''quite definitely his element,'' is omnipresent' (ibid., p. 104).

 

The present work shows a view of the town seen from the Cap Martin, with Cap d'Ail visible on the far left, and the promenade in the foreground which, according to Daniel Wildenstein, still today runs around the Cape. Bathed in the sunshine of a warm spring day, the landscape displays a range of bright, vivid colours that attracted so many artists to the Côte d'Azur. The blue of the sea is echoed in the colour of 'Tête de Chien' ('Dog's Head'), the rock formation dominating the town, its top bleached by the sunshine. This gently curving line of the path, painted in warm orange hues, leads the viewer's eye towards the small town nestling in the centre of the composition. For the artist whose entire career was dedicated to exploring the quality of light and its effect on water, the rich, saturated colours of the Mediterranean provided an ideal environment in which to paint, and resulted in a rich series of works unique within Monet's oeuvre.