3218 - CLAUDE MONET

CLAUDE MONET (Paris 1840–1926 Giverny) Boats on the Thames. 1900/01. Pastel on paper. Signed lower left: Claude Monet. 31.5 × 43.8 cm. Provenance: - Michel Monet, Giverny, 1926. - Dr. August Meyer, Basel, acquired from the above before 1977. - Kunstmuseum Basel, received as a gift from the above in 1977. - Auction Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, November 17, 1982, lot 320 (titled “A Boat Crossing a Harbor at Sunset”). - Jacques Fricker, Crespières, acquired at the above auction through Galerie Fricker, Paris. - J.P. Schneider Jr., Frankfurt am Main, acquired from the above in 1984 through Kunstkabinett Fleischmann, Munich. - Private collection, Germany, acquired from the above in 1984. - Private collection, Germany, acquired from the above collection in 2003 through J.P. Schneider Jr. - Private collection, Germany, acquired from the above collection in 2012. Exhibited: Possibly exhibited: Basel 1949, Impressionists. Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Precursors and Contemporaries, Kunsthalle Basel, September 3–November 20, 1949, no. 242. Literature: - Wildenstein Plattner Institute: Claude Monet. The Revised Catalogue Raisonné. The Pastels, no. CMRJZ9 P107 (online catalogue raisonné: https://digitalprojects.wpi.art/monet/artworks/detail?a=75623-bateaux-sur-la-tamise). - Daniel Wildenstein: Monet. Catalogue raisonné. Werkverzeichnis, Bonn 1996, vol. V, p. 174, no. P 109 (ill.). We thank the Wildenstein Plattner Institute for confirming the authenticity of the work in June 2026. When Monet returned to London in 1899 after an absence of nearly thirty years, he found the Thames to be an ideal subject for his artistic explorations. London’s characteristic fog, mingling with the smoke of the industrial city, transformed buildings and bridges into ever-changing arrangements of color and form. On subsequent visits in 1900 and 1901, he devoted himself to the shifting light and weather that could alter the city’s appearance in a matter of moments. From his room at the Savoy Hotel, he painted Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Bridge; for his views of the Houses of Parliament, he worked from St. Thomas’ Hospital on the opposite bank. Yet Monet did not always turn to London’s famous landmarks to capture its distinctive atmosphere. Alongside his celebrated views of the bridges and Parliament, he created a handful of pastels devoted instead to boats and fleeting impressions of the Thames. The present “Bateaux sur la Tamise” belongs to a group of just four sheets whose exact place of execution remains unknown. The absence of an identifiable setting is part of their appeal. During his visits to London, Monet produced only 28 pastels alongside his celebrated series of paintings. His choice of medium initially stemmed from necessity: upon arriving in London, he did not yet have his usual painting supplies. Pastel was nevertheless familiar to him from his youth. His early mentor, Eugène Boudin—who encouraged him to paint outdoors—had used pastels to capture changing natural phenomena directly. Monet, too, appreciated the medium’s ability to convey observations on paper with just a few strokes. He described these works as a kind of exercise and later acknowledged how useful these quickly executed pastels had been in developing his paintings. Two other pastels depicting similar subjects—one in the Artizon Museum, Tokyo (ill. 1), and another in a private collection (ill. 2)—further demonstrate Monet’s interest in the river. Like the present work, they largely dispense with the prominent architectural landmarks that define his major London series. Instead, boats take center stage, while the banks recede into the mist and the boundaries between the river, the city, and the sky begin to dissolve. The precise viewpoint of this work cannot be determined either. What emerges more clearly is Monet’s fascination with the changing atmosphere of the Thames, rather than an exact record of its topography. The expressive power of these seemingly spontaneous pastels is particularly evident in “Bateaux sur la Tamise.” The composition contains only a few elements. Monet delineates the boats with delicate strokes, barely suggesting the far bank through the haze. Rich blues blur the distinction between sky and river, offset by warmer touches of color. On the water, yellow, orange, and pink pigments are applied in short, vigorous strokes, evoking the reflection of the day’s last sunlight. In contrast to the predominantly cool blues and grays of many of his London pastels, this sheet is remarkable for its varied palette. The exposed paper and freely applied strokes make the creative process visible, revealing Monet’s mastery of the medium. The pastel remained in the artist’s family for many years before the Basel collector Dr. August Meyer acquired it directly from Michel Monet. In 1977, Meyer bequeathed his entire collection to the Basel art museum. The museum retained some works and sold the remainder, including the pastel offered here, at a