13, 1872 as the definitive date when Monet created Impression, Soleil Levant. 25, 1873.Īn essay by art historian Géraldine Lefebvre in the exhibition catalog gives reasons for preferring the year 1872-matching the original date "72" painted by Monet next to his signature on the canvas-and the combined analysis points to Nov. Two remaining dates record an east wind: Nov. The smoke appears to be blowing to the right, which would indicate a wind from the east. To narrow the field even further, Olson examined the smoke columns rising over the harbor on the left side of the painting. Six dates remained after eliminating those with stormy, rainy or windy weather and heavy seas. The distinctive architectural features allow us to recognize the hotel in wide-angle photographs of the Grand Quai taken from across the harbor. These 19th-century photographs show the Hôtel de l’Amirauté with the hotel name prominent on the façade. The result was 19 possible dates in late January and mid-November of 18 when the sun and tides corresponded with the painting. Since the large sailing ships could only enter and exit the shallow outer harbor during a few hours near the time of high tide, he used computer algorithms to calculate the tides of that era. To further narrow the possible dates, Olson then looked at the tides. Olson confirmed the view from the room to the southeast matched that of the painting and subsequently calculated the sun's position over the harbor-roughly 20 to 30 minutes after sunrise. One especially clear and detailed photograph made it possible to identify the precise hotel room from which Monet worked. Olson began his work by consulting 19th-century maps and collecting more than 400 vintage photographs of Le Havre. For a period of about three or four hours near the time of high tide, the tide-gates (labelled H-R) were open and sailing ships could enter or exit the various tidal docks (bassins) of the port. Quai Courbé, with its distinctive semi-circular shape, projects into the outer harbor (avant-port) from the south. The dot indicates the position of Hôtel de l’Amirauté on the Grand Quai, and the arrow points in the direction of the low Sun seen in Impression, Sunrise. True north is at the top of this map showing Le Havre harbor in the decade of the 1870s. "I had submitted something done in Le Havre, from my window, the sun in the mist and a few masts of ships in the foreground … They asked me the title for the catalog it could not really pass for a view of Le Havre, so I replied: 'Put Impression.' From that came 'Impressionism,' and the jokes proliferated." Monet himself helped to resolve some of the uncertainty in an interview from 1898: Several influential art historians even insisted that the canvas depicted a sunset, not a sunrise. The hazy nature of the image further confused the issue, with various sources disagreeing regarding the season of the year depicted and the direction of Monet's view. Monet dated his signature with a "72" on the painting, but some subsequent catalogs dismiss that number and date the painting to 1873, assuming that Monet had worked in Le Havre during the spring of that year. "Impression, Soleil Levant likewise appears to be an accurate representation of a sparkling glitter path extending across the waters of the harbor, beneath a solar disk seen through the mist accompanying a late fall or winter sunrise." "For several other Monet paintings from Le Havre, we can be certain that the artist depicted the topography of the port accurately," Olson said. 18, 2015.īased on Olson's research, the curators of the exhibition conclude, as the most probable date, that Monet painted Impression, Soleil Levant from his hotel room in Le Havre, France, on Nov. Olson's findings are published by the Musée Marmottan Monet of Paris, France, in Monet's Impression Sunrise: The Biography of a Painting, the catalog of the museum's major Monet exhibition running Sept.
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