Collections: European Art: Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Effect (Le Parlement, effet de soleil)

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Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Effect (Le Parlement, effet de soleil)

Intrigued by the challenge posed by the play of water and light, Monet tested himself further by painting the transformative beauty of London’s fog and smoke in several works executed along the banks of the Thames during three winter painting campaigns from 1899 to 1901. Monet stationed himself on the balcony of Saint Thomas’ Hospital, across the river from his subject, substituting one canvas for another—nineteen in all—as changing weather and light conditions dictated. Their neo-Gothic spires blunted by the mauve gloom of late afternoon, the Houses of Parliament emerge as a massive silhouette. Rays of pale sunshine break through the murk in the upper right corner of the canvas and burst across the shimmering waters in overlapping strokes of pink, salmon, and yellow. The painter later reworked the canvas in his Giverny studio in 1903 in preparation for an exhibition the following year.


• Artist: Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Place Made: Europe
• Dates: 1903
• Dimensions: 32 x 36 1/4 in. (81.3 x 92.1 cm) Frame: 42 1/2 x 46 5/8 x 3 3/8 in. (108 x 118.4 x 8.6 cm)
• Signature: Signed and dated lower left: "Claude Monet 1903"
• Collections: European Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Beaux-Arts Court, South, 3rd Floor
• Accession Number: 68.48.1
• Credit Line: Bequest of Grace Underwood Barton
• Image: Overall, 68.48.1_colorcorrected_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Effect (Le Parlement, effet de soleil), 1903. Oil on canvas, 32 x 36 1/4 in. (81.3 x 92.1 cm) Frame: 42 1/2 x 46 5/8 x 3 3/8 in. (108 x 118.4 x 8.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Grace Underwood Barton, 68.48.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.48.1_colorcorrected_SL1.jpg)