Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist) (1897): Artwork and History

Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist) (1897) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This placid landscape is the result of an energetic creative process. For months Claude Monet rose before dawn to travel by rowboat to the same location on the river Seine, where he painted 14 canvases simultaneously, reworking them as the light shifted. Although this painting appears hazy and vague, Monet made deliberate technical decisions—for instance, blurring a once-distinct horizon line with vigorously blended brushstrokes that grow looser as they radiate outward. Monet custom-ordered the nearly square canvas, an unusual shape that contributes to the disorienting nature of the scene, half of which represents a reflection on the water. By diffusing the landscape through these techniques, Monet attempted to capture the transience of light and mist, a theme he pursued throughout his career.

Object facts

• Title: Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist)
• Date: 1897
• Artist attribution: Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
• Place of origin: France
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 89.9 × 92.7 cm (35 3/8 × 36 1/2 in.); Framed: 112.4 × 115.6 × 11.5 cm (44 1/4 × 45 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1933.1156

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.