Claude Monet

(possibly) Lucien Sauphar, Paris

Alfred Lindon, Paris

Tedesco Frères, Paris

Roger Janssen, Brussels

Sale: Christie's, New York, May 14, 1986, lot 7

Acquired at the above sale

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Monet to Matisse: A Century of Art in France from Southern California Collections, 1991

Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Monet to Matisse, Landscape Painting in France, 1874-1914, 1994, no. 42

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Impressionists at Argenteuil, 2000, no. 14

London, The National Gallery, Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, 2000-01 

San Diego Museum of Art, Personal Views: Regarding Private Collections in San Diego, 2007

San Diego Museum of Art, 1987-2007 (on loan)

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Biographie et Catalogue raisonné, vol. 1, Lausanne and Paris, 1974, no. 228,  illustrated p. 213

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Biographie et Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 5, Lausanne and Paris, 1991, no. 228,  listed p. 26

Paul Hayes Tucker,  Monet at Argenteuil, New Haven, 1982, no. 71, illustrated p. 98

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue raisonné, vol. 2, Cologne, 1996,  no. 228, illustrated p. 101

Excellent condition. Original Canvas. The edges have been strip lined. Under ultra-violet light, there is no inpainting visible. This work is in excellent original condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1871, Monet and his family moved to Argenteuil, a suburb near Paris, where they lived for the following six years.  Argenteuil, with its lush natural surroundings on the banks of the Seine, was becoming one of the fastest growing regions in the vicinity of Paris, and it was here that Monet completed his quintessential early Impressionist pictures.  Monet painted the present work in Le Petit-Gennevilliers, which was only a few miles from Argenteuil.  As Daniel Wildenstein explains, "Most of the paintings from the left bank can only have been made from a boat.  This is probably the famous studio-boat, whose creation Monet described thus: 'A fair wind brought me just enough money, all in one go, to buy myself a boat and have a little wooden cabin built on it, just big enough to set up my easel in.' (Thiébault-Sisson) And thus came into being some of the canvases that show the little, brightly-painted houses that stand on one side of the boat-building yards of Petit-Gennevilliers" (Daniel Wildenstein, op. cit., p. 98).

Monet spent some time in Holland the year before this work was painted, and the overcast atmosphere of that region has made its way into the present work.  This picture bespeaks Monet's interest in eliminating superfluous details, and allows the viewer to be immersed in the entire spectacle of the landscape.  Indeed, "Claude Monet's La Seine au Petit-Gennevilliers illustrates the chief characteristics of Impressionism: a modest scene on the outskirts of Paris, exuberant broken brushwork, an absolute lack of sentimentality and embellishment that gives the scene a powerfully direct and honest charm. The painting conveys a feeling of spontaneity, supporting the sense that Monet carried his canvas to the banks of the river Seine and painted the work in a single sitting" (Steven Kern, Personal Views: Regarding Private Collections in San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, 2006, p. 66).