monet sailboat paintings

Claude Monet’s six most splendid paintings of sailboats

by Barista Uno | Nov 15, 2021 | Maritime Art, Culture and History

Sailboats held as much as fascination for French Impressionist master Claude Monet as water lilies and haystacks . He made several paintings of them. The following, in my opinion, are his most splendid works on the subject. They spotlight not only the beauty and elegance of sailboats. More importantly, they show Monet’s inimitable handling of colour, light and atmosphere.

“For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life – the air and the light, which vary continuously. For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.”

— claude monet, 1891 (as quoted by tate uk ).

Sailboat in Petit-Gennevilliers, 1874 Claude Monet (1840–1926) Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

A sky exploding with wonderful colours and reflections on the serene waters of the Seine combine to transform an ordinary sailboat into something majestic.

Sailboats, regatta at Argenteuil, 1874 Claude Monet (1840–1926) Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Monet used the same pale palette for the sky, the sailboats and the river, adding tints of red for the houses to break the uniformity. Sky and water are dappled, and the boats are appear bunched together as they move gracefully along the river. All this gives the painting a peculiar kind of vitality and charm.

Le Havre, Fishing Boats Leaving the Port, 1874 Claude Monet (1840–1926) Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

It’s a wet morning, but a crowd has gathered on the waterfront to watch the fishing boats sail out of the harbour to the open sea. The small figures in the foreground make the boats and their proud sails seem like multistoried buildings. This is captivating art with a narrative element.

Fishing Boats at Sea, 1868 Claude Monet (1840–1926) Courtesy of Wikiart: Visual Art Encyclopedia

Monet turned an ordinary day in the life of fishermen into a theatrical scene. The boat in the foreground is like an actor making his stage entrance as the curtain of day is raised. The two boats are rendered in dark brown to provide a contrast to the streaks of white light in the sky.

The Cliffs at Étretat, 1886 Claude Monet (1840–1926) Courtesy of Wikiart: Visual Art Encyclopedia

This painting — one of many done by Monet of the Étretat cliffs — is bursting  with energy. Small patches of green, yellow and brownish orange are skillfully blended to create the impression of a dynamic but not choppy sea. The brightly coloured sky and the flotilla of small fishing boats accentuate the massive, towering cliffs.

Seascape, Storm, 1866 Claude Monet (1840–1926) Courtesy of The Clark, Massachusetts, USA

Seascape, Storm is an early work by Monet that is markedly different in style and technique from his later Impressionist paintings. In lieu of small, swift brushtrokes, the colours are applied solidly with some areas worked with a palette knife. The fishing boat is set against an ominous grey sky, and the sea is mostly a dark green. Just below the horizon line is a long strip of bright green, Monet suggesting perhaps that the storm will blow over, that there is hope.

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Regatta at Sainte-Adresse

Claude Monet French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 818

Monet spent the summer of 1867 at Sainte-Adresse, a well-to-do suburb of Le Havre on the Normandy coast. On June 25, he reported that he had about twenty pictures under way, noting, "Among the seascapes, I am doing the regattas of Le Havre with many figures on the beach and the outer harbor covered with small sails." This sunny regatta, watched at high tide by well-dressed bourgeois, seems to have been conceived as a pair with The Beach at Sainte-Adresse (Art Institute of Chicago), an overcast scene at low tide, showing fishing boats hauled onto the beach, peopled with sailors and workers.

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Title: Regatta at Sainte-Adresse

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 29 5/8 x 40 in. (75.2 x 101.6 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Bequest of William Church Osborn, 1951

Accession Number: 51.30.4

Learn more about this artwork

Timeline of art history, claude monet (1840-1926), france, 1800-1900 a.d., museum publications.

Origins of Impressionism

The New Nineteenth-Century European Paintings and Sculpture Galleries

"The Monets in the Metropolitan Museum": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 3 (1970)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe

Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Jonathan Sturges, W.H. Osborn, and William Church Osborn: A Chapter in American Art Patronage": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 43 (2008)

"Impressionists in the Metropolitan": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 27, no. 1 (Summer, 1968)

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue

Art = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History

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European Paintings at The Met

Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat by Claude Monet (1840-1926)

From 1871 to 1878, Monet lived in Argenteuil on the outskirts of Paris. During this period, he fitted out a boat as a floating studio and painted many views of the River Seine and its banks. He made this picture in 1874, the year that the first Impressionist exhibition was held in Paris. Monet used distinct broken brushstrokes and complementary colours, to suggest light and movement. The shifting clouds, rippled water, autumn leaves, and gliding yacht further evoke a sense of transience. Most of the scene is composed of sky and reflections.

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Boats on the Beach at Étretat

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Claude Monet French, 1840-1926

About this artwork

Forced indoors by inclement fall weather, Claude Monet painted Boats on the Beach at Étretat and The Departure of the Boats, Étretat while looking out the window of his room at the Hôtel Blanquet. The two form a pair that share a palette, subject, and vantage point. In one of his daily letters to his companion and future wife, Alice Hoschedé, dated November 24, 1885, Monet he described first Boats on the Beach and then Departure of the Boats : “In the afternoon, I worked in my room on my caloges [retired fishing boats covered with tarred planks and used for storage] in the rain, then I attempted to do, always through the window, a picture of the boats departing.”

Monet centered each composition on the boats, combining pastel blues, pinks, purples, and greens to render wet surfaces. The brightly colored hulls of beached crafts lend relative scale to the structures in Boats on the Beach , and the groups of figures at the water’s edge, composed of quick, gestural strokes, register human activity in Departure of the Boats .

Date   Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Inscriptions, credit line, reference number, iiif manifest   the international image interoperability framework (iiif) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. learn more ., extended information about this artwork, publication history.

• Catalogue de la collection de M. Georges Bernaert (n.p., n.d.), no. 86 (ill.).
• August L. Mayer, Katalog der aus der Sammlung des Kgl. Rates Marczell von Nemes, Budapest, ausgestellten Gemälde, with a preface by V. Tschudi, exh. cat. (F. Bruckmann, 1911), cat. 34 (ill.).
• Emil Schäffer, “Neue Bücher der Kunstwissenschaft,” Kunst und Künstler 9 (1911), p. 260 (ill.).
• Gabriel Mourey, “La collection Marczell de Nemes,” Les arts 138 (June 1913), p. 30.
• Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, Catalogue des tableaux modernes, collection de M. Marczell de Nemes, sale cat. (Galerie Manzi-Joyant, June 18, 1913), lot 113 (ill.), as Plage.
• “Liste des prix et noms des acquéreurs de la deuxième vacation de la collection Marczell de Nemes,” Le Gil Blas, June 19, 1913, p. 2.
• M. B. W., “Summer Loan Exhibitions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 17, 6 (Sept. 1923), p. 58 (ill.).
• Toledo Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, exh. cat. (Toledo Museum of Art, 1937), cat. 14 (ill.).
• Arts Club of Chicago, Loan Exhibition of Modern Paintings and Drawings from Private Collections in Chicago, exh. cat. ([Arts Club of Chicago], [1938]), cat. 87.
• Daniel Catton Rich, Catalogue of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings (Lakeside, 1938), pp. vi; 76, cat. 77; pl. 45.
• Art Institute of Chicago, “Complete List of Works,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 41, 5 (Sept.–Oct. 1947), p. 63.
• Oscar Reuterswärd, Monet: En konstnärshistorik (Bonniers, 1948), pp. 160; 161, fig. 75; 284.
• Claude Monet: A Loan Exhibition, exh. cat. (Minneapolis Society of the Fine Arts, 1957), p. 66, cat. 62 (ill.).
• William C. Seitz, “Claude Monet’s View of Nature,” in Claude Monet: A Loan Exhibition, exh. cat. (Minneapolis Society of the Fine Arts, 1957), p. 25.
• A. C., “Homage to Claude Monet,” Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 51, 2 (Apr. 1, 1957), p. 23.
• Art Institute of Chicago, “Catalogue,” Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 51, 2 (Apr. 1, 1957), p. 33.
• Oklahoma Art Center, Inaugural Exhibition, exh. cat. ([Oklahoma Art Center], [1958]), cat. 138 (ill.).
• William C. Seitz, Claude Monet, Library of Great Painters (Abrams, 1960), pp. 32, 126–27 (ill.).
• Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), p. 320.
• Yvon Taillandier, Monet, trans. A. P. H. Hamilton (Crown, [1963]), pp. 46, 60 (ill.), 68.
• Luigina Rossi Bortolatto, L’opera completa di Claude Monet: 1870–1889, Classici dell’arte 63 (Rizzoli, 1972), pp. 16; 57, pl. 41; 106, cat. 287 (ill.); 107.
• Grace Seiberling, “The Evolution of an Impressionist,” in Paintings by Monet, ed. Susan Wise, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), pp. 30, 31, 33.
• Susan Wise, ed., Paintings by Monet, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), p. 125, cat. 68 (ill.).
• Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 2, Peintures, 1882–1886 (Bibliothèque des Arts, 1979), pp. 172; 173, cat. 1024 (ill.); 268, letter 628.
• J. Patrice Marandel, “New Installation of Earlier Painting,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 73, 1 (Jan.–Feb., 1979), p. 15 (ill.).
• Robert Herbert, “Method and Meaning in Monet,” Art in America 67, 5 (Sept. 1979), pp. 103, fig. 15; 105.
• A. M. Hammacher and Renilde Hammacher, Van Gogh: A Documentary Biography, trans. Mary Charles (Thames & Hudson, 1982), pp. 142, pl. 118; 236.
• Richard R. Brettell, “Monet’s Haystacks Reconsidered,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 11, 1 (Fall 1984), pp. 7; 19, fig. 16.
• John House, Monet: Nature into Art (Yale University Press, 1986), pp. 188, 189.
• Richard R. Brettell, French Impressionists (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1987), pp. 78 (detail), 79, 80 (ill.), 118.
• Robert L. Herbert, Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society (Yale University Press, 1988), pp. 299; 301; 302, pl. 311.
• Francesco Arcangeli, Monet (Nuova Alfa, 1989), pp. 56; 121, fig. 47; 155.
• Richard Kendall, ed., Monet by Himself: Paintings, Drawings, Pastels, Letters, trans. Bridget Strevens Romer (Macdonald Orbis, 1989), pp. 145 (ill.), 319.
• Rodolphe Rapetti, Monet (Anaya/Mondadori, 1990), p. 75, pl. 52.
• Karin Sagner-Düchting, Claude Monet, 1840–1926: Ein Fest für die Augen (Benedikt Taschen, 1990), pp. 140, 141 (ill.). Translated by Karen Williams as Claude Monet, 1840–1926: A Feast for the Eyes (Taschen, 2004), pp. 140, 141 (ill.).
• Sophie Fourny-Dargère, Monet, Profils de l’art (Chêne, 1992), p. 154, fig. 5.
• Art Institute of Chicago, Treasures of 19th- and 20th-Century Painting: The Art Institute of Chicago, with an introduction by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Abbeville, 1993), p. 101 (ill.).
• Robert L. Herbert, Monet on the Normandy Coast: Tourism and Painting, 1867–1886 (Yale University Press, 1994), back cover (ill.); pp. 103; 106, fig. 115; 107; 108; 109 (detail).
• Andrew Forge, Monet, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago, 1995), pp. 35; 36; 81, pl. 10; 107.
• Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, or The Triumph of Impressionism, cat. rais., vol. 1 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), pp. 211, 212–13 (ill.).
• Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 3, Nos. 969–1595 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), pp. 386, cat. 1024 (ill.); 388.
• Fabrizio d’Amico, “Monet e il Mediterraneo: da Bordighera ad Antibes,” in Monet: I luoghi della pittura, ed. Marco Goldin, exh. cat. (Linea d’Ombra, 2001), p. 176 (ill.).
• Cornelia Homburg, “Vincent van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: Colleagues, Competitors, Friends,” in Vincent’s Choice: Van Gogh’s Musée Imaginaire, ed. Chris Stolwijk, Sjraar van Heugten, Leo Jansen, and Andreas Blühm, exh. cat. (Van Gogh Museum/Thames & Hudson, 2003), p. 114.
• Chris Stolwijk, Sjraar van Heugten, Leo Jansen, and Andreas Blühm, eds., Vincent’s Choice: Van Gogh’s Musée Imaginaire, exh. cat. (Van Gogh Museum/Thames & Hudson, 2003), p. 264, pl. 129.
• Sotheby’s, New York, Impressionist and Modern Art: Part One, sale cat. (Sotheby’s, May 6, 2003), p. 73, fig. 3.
• Richard Brettell, “Monet and Normandy,” in Monet in Normandy, ed. Heather Lemonedes, Lynn Federle Orr, and David Steel, exh. cat. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/North Carolina Museum of Art/Cleveland Museum of Art/Rizzoli, 2006), p. 48.
• Heather Lemonedes, Lynn Federle Orr, and David Steel, eds., Monet in Normandy, exh. cat. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/North Carolina Museum of Art/Cleveland Museum of Art/Rizzoli, 2006), pp. 136–37, cat. 43 (ill.); 185.
• David M. Hopkin, “Fishermen, Tourists and Artists in the Nineteenth Century: The View from the Beach,” in John House and David M. Hopkin, Impressionists by the Sea, exh. cat. (Royal Academy of Arts, London/Thames & Hudson/Abrams, 2007), p. 33.
• John House and David M. Hopkin, Impressionists by the Sea, exh. cat. (Royal Academy of Arts, London/Thames & Hudson/Abrams, 2007), pp. 113, cat. 63 (ill.); 139, cat. 63 (ill.); 140.
• Eric M. Zafran, “Monet in America,” in Wildenstein and Co., Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff, exh. cat. (Wildenstein and Co., 2007), p. 127.
• Eliza E. Rathbone, “Impressionists by the Sea,” Phillips Collection Magazine (Fall 2007), p. 5 (ill.).
• Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 17; 108, cat. 48 (ill.). Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 17; 108, cat. 48 (ill.).
• Jennifer A. Thompson, “Van Gogh and Close-Up Techniques in 19th-Century French Painting,” in Van Gogh Up Close, ed. Cornelia Homburg, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa/Philadelphia Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2012), pp. 69; 70, ill. 50; 94, n. 15.
• “Cat. 22: Boats on the Beach at Étretat, 1885” in Monet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), https://publications.artic.edu/monet/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/135470 .
• Gloria Groom, et. al. Monet and Chicago, exh. Cat. (Chicago: Art Institute, 2020), 20, 31, 70 cat. 34, 134.
• Chiyo Ishikawa, Monet at Étretat, exh. cat. (Seattle Art Museum, 2021), 41, 42 fig. 18, 44-45, 48, 66n45, 69 (ill.).

Exhibition History

• Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Nemes Marcell képgyűjteményének kiállítása [Exhibition of paintings in the collection of Marcell von Nemes], 1910, no cat. no.
• Munich, Königliche Ältere Pinakothek München, Sammlung des Königliche Rates Marczell von Nemes, Budapest, ausgestellten Gemälde, June–Dec. 1911, cat. 34 (ill.), as Strandbild.
• Düsseldorf, Kunsthalle, Sammlung des Königliche Rates Marczell von Nemes, July–Dec. 1912, cat. 104.
• Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Worcester Collection, July 24–Sept. 23, 1923, no cat.
• Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Nov. 7–Dec. 12, 1937, cat. 14 (ill.).
• Arts Club of Chicago, Loan Exhibition of Modern Paintings and Drawings from Private Collections in Chicago, Nov. 4–25, 1938, cat. 87.
• Art Institute of Chicago, The Paintings of Claude Monet, Apr. 1–June 15, 1957, no cat. no.
• City Art Museum of St. Louis, Claude Monet: A Loan Exhibition, Sept. 25–Oct. 22, 1957, cat. 62 (ill.); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Nov. 1–Dec. 1, 1957.
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Art Center, Inaugural Exhibition, Dec. 5, 1958–Jan. 31, 1959, cat. 138 (ill.).
• Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Monet, Mar. 15–May 11, 1975, cat. 68 (ill.).
• Highland Park, Ill., Neison Harris, Sept. 26–Dec. 6, 1979, no cat.
• Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Vincent’s Choice: The Musée Imaginaire of Van Gogh, Feb. 14–June 15, 2003, cat. 129 (ill.).
• Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Monet in Normandy, June 17–Sept. 17, 2006, cat. 43 (ill.); Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Oct. 15, 2006–Jan. 14, 2007; Cleveland Museum of Art, Feb. 18–May 20, 2007.
• London, Royal Academy of Arts, Impressionists by the Sea, July 7–Sept. 30, 2007, cat. 63 (ill.); Washington, D.C., Phillips Collection, Oct. 20, 2007–Jan. 13, 2008; Hartford, Conn., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Feb. 9–May 11, 2008.
• Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 48 (ill.).
• Seattle Art Museum, Monet at Étretat, July 1-October 17, 2021, no cat. no.
• Art Institute of Chicago, Monet and Chicago, September 5, 2020-June 14, 2021, cat. 34.

Georges Bernaert [this and the following per Wildenstein 1996]. Georges Bernheim, Paris, c. 1907. Marczell de Nemes, Budapest, by 1911 [per Mayer 1911]; sold at the Marczell de Nemes Sale, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, June 18, 1913, lot 113, to Durand-Ruel, Paris, as an agent for an unnamed person, for 9,500 francs [per Galerie Manzi-Joyant 1913; see also Durand-Ruel Archives, annotated sales catalogue. The Durand-Ruel Archives also has a letter [in French translated here by G. Groom] from Durand-Ruel, Paris, to Durand-Ruel, New York, dated June 24, 1913, saying that they bought several important paintings, that were consigned but they would never have paid prices like that for these types of paintings” and that “ Durand-Ruel purchased 11 paintings at this sale, the names of the buyers are not recorded in our books”; see Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file, Art Institute of Chicago. See also “Liste des prix et noms des acquéreurs de la deuxième vacation de la collection Marczell de Nemes,” Le Gil Blas, June 19, 1913, p. 2, which states that the asking price was 12,000 francs and that the painting was sold to M. Durand-Ruel for 9,500 francs]. Kleinberger Gallery, Paris, by Nov. 15, 1922 [per Rich 1938]. John Levy Galleries, Paris, by Nov. 15, 1922 [this and the following per purchase receipt on John Levy Galleries letterhead dated November 15, 1922, mentions the sale of this painting by John Levy Galleries for $2,295 as La Plage à Etretat to Mr. C. H. Worcester, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Charles H. Worcester, Chicago, by Nov. 15, 1922, for $2,295; given by Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1947 [the painting stayed in the Worcesters’ home until 1956, when Mr. Worcester died; see receipt of object 14829, on file in Museum Registration, Art Institute of Chicago. Mrs. Mary F. S. Worcester died in 1954].

Catalogues Raisonnés

Wildenstein, Claude Monet, cat rais. 1996 1024

Wildenstein, Claude Monet, biographie et catalogue raisonné, 1979 1024

• Cat. 22  Boats on the Beach at Étretat, 1885
• Cats. 22-23  Étretat, 1885

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here .

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Claude Monet's Sailboat seems to take viewers on a journey away from the stresses of life. The Impressionist painter has gained many fans for his portrayals of nature and the outdoors.

His Sailboat painting does not fail to please. It is rich with the masterful use of colour that creates a pleasing scene of a boat, the sea and the warm sky.

Monet has always worked well with light in his paintings and the reflections in the water are a testament to his skill. The boat is positioned in the centre of the painting, with the land on the left reminding viewers of what was left behind even as the open water beckons to the right.

The painter's theme was one that commonly captivated artists in France. Paddling and cruising were a popular pastime so there were ample opportunities for Impressionists like Monet and Renoir to paint scenes that everyone could connect with.

In one Impressionist painting, a couple, wearing what you may call their Sunday-trip best, remain on the green bank of the sparkling Seine River. This is the scene portrayed in "Rowers at Chatou," which the Impressionist craftsman Pierre Auguste Renoir painted in the later 1870s. It is presently on view at the Peabody Essex Museum.

Monet's Sailboat leaves viewers to imagine those who enjoyed their trip but it is just as pleasing. In Renoir's painting the man and lady are to be paddled about in a long exquisite wooden gig. Out of sight are a sailboat, a stream freight boat and men paddling sculls. With the Impressionists, boats were the embodiment of a languid, summer occasion. Paintings like "Sailboat" provided a look into that feeling of relaxation that comes from recreation.

These nineteenth century compositions are modern in their theme. Previous French painting had concentrated on myth, history and nobles. The Impressionists portrayed an ascendant white collar class. They painted the activities of those who came out of the Revolution. The new manufacturing plants cultivated the advancement of French railroads and started new tourism along beautiful angling towns like Chatou.

These mainstream recreational joys turned into a focal subject for Monet and other Impressionists. Their vivid paintings showed individuals unwinding in parks and gardens, along waterways, at shorelines and in the lamplight of theatres. They show an aspect of Parisian culture which was new then and still exists in the present day.

These are ideas we still profoundly relate to and that is what helps to make Monet's "Sailboat" so interesting. It captures the feeling of freedom that comes with not being obligated to go to work or even to a scheduled rugby or netball match. Viewers cherish the Impressionists' present day theme of time off.

Amid the Franco-Prussian War Monet was in London. Upon his arrival in 1871 he moved with his family to Argenteuil . A beautiful, memorable town and a thriving suburb, Argenteuil was only 15 minutes from Paris. In the late nineteenth century it was unrivaled for Sunday excursions and boat trips. This move turned out to be profitable for Monet in several ways and he completed several beautiful paintings of boats and outdoor life while living there.

Monet gained a vessel, which he transformed into a gliding studio. The River Seine and its cruising water crafts turned into the main topic of his depictions. In some paintings, the town of Argenteuil may be witnessed not too far off. Light and its impact on the water's surface are readily considered as Monet displays the skill that he is admired for.

While Monet effectively accurately described life in a large number of his works, his point was to dissect the constantly changing nature of shading and light. Known as the exemplary Impressionist, one cannot help but have profound esteem for his artistic ability. "Sailboat" has an insurmountable magnificence.

Over the years Sisley, Renoir and Pissarro all joined Monet to paint in Argenteuil and the towns close by. As the once provincial zones turned out to be progressively available by rail, they got to be distinctly prominent for Parisians. These youthful French Impressionists, devoted to painting contemporary urban common life, were pulled in by this engaging blend of the conventional holiday scene and the innovations of the Industrial Revolution.

Hi, I'm Tom!

I'm the writer and founder of MonetPaintings.org. I have studied different art movements for over 15 years, and am also an amateur artist myself! Read my bio here.

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Gallery Text

For most of the 1870s, Monet lived in Argenteuil, a town on the Seine only seventeen miles from Paris and accessible to the city by train. He often worked outdoors in his own boat and painted this basin several times, though the lower vantage point of this scene suggests a perspective from the shoreline. Eliminating the factory smokestacks that were in fact visible at this location, Monet instead highlights the area’s picturesque and recreational aspects, including the boat rental area on the left.

Impressionist painters like Monet deliberately eschewed the finished structure and line of academic painting, but the irresolution of this painting has led to its occasional categorization as a “study.” As revealed in x-radiographs, the artist reworked the composition in several areas, removing a sixth paddling duck on the left, for example, by painting over it. The band of lavender brushstrokes along the horizon line is the site of a similar revision.

Identification and Creation

Physical descriptions.

• Signed: l.l. Claude Monet 75

Acquisition and Rights

THIS WORK HAS SIGNIFICANT LOAN RESTRICTIONS BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

• 2e Exposition de peinture , exh. cat., Galerie Durand-Ruel (Paris, France, 1876), no. 160
• Monet-Rodin , exh. cat., Galerie Georges Petit (Paris, France, 1889), no. 27
• Arsène Alexandre, "La Collection E. L.", La Renaissance (October 1933 - November 1933), vol. XVI, pp. 182, 193
• Alfred M. Frankfurter, "Today's Collectors: Modern Milestones", Art News (June 1946), vol. XLV, no. 4, p. 64
• French Painting since 1870, lent by Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906 , exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1946), p. 10, repr. p. 11
• John Rewald, The History of Impressionism [1st ed.] , The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1946), p. 347, repr. p. 285
• Oscar Reuterswärd, Monet, en konstnarshistorik , Albert Bonniers Förlag (Stockholm, Sweden, 1948), p. 282
• La Peinture Française Depuis 1870: Collection Maurice Wertheim , exh. cat., Tom Taylor (Québec, Canada, 1949), no. 3, pp. 9-10
• A Collector's Exhibition: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Collections of Members of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Fine Arts. , exh. cat., Knoedler & Co. Inc. (New York, NY, 1950), no. 4
• Howard Devree, "By French Masters: The Metropolitan Shows Wertheim Collection", The New York Times (New York, NY, July 6 1952), p. 6, p. 6
• John Canaday, Mainstreams of Modern Art , Henry Holt and Co. (New York, NY, 1959), repr. p. 96
• The Maurice Wertheim Catalogue: Modern French Art-- Monet to Picasso , exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC, 1960), p. 28, repr. p. 28
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso , exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX, 1962), p. 32, pl. 11
• L'Opera completa di Claude Monet, 1870-1889 , Rizzoli (Milan, Italy, 1972), p. 97; repr. p. 96
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , exh. cat., Maine State Museum (Augusta, ME, 1972), no. 20
• Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et Catalogue Raisonné , La Bibliothèque des Arts (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1974 - 1991), no. 369
• Robert L. Herbert, "Method and Meaning in Monet", Art In America (September 1979), vol. 67, pp. 90-108, p. 108
• Paul Hayes Tucker, Monet at Argenteuil , Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1982), pl. XX, pp. 118-120, 149
• Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections , Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 219, p. 192, repr. in color
• Helen Langdon, Impressionist Seasons , Phaidon Press (Oxford, England, 1986), repr. in color no. 11, p. 37; text p. 36
• John House, Monet: Nature into Art , Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1986), pl. 20, pp. 18, 83
• Bernard Denvir, The Impressionists at First Hand , Thames & Hudson (London, England, 1987), repr. in b/w, p. 81
• John O'Brian, Degas to Matisse: the Maurice Wertheim Collection , Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Fogg Art Museum (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, 1988), no. 4, p. 45-47, repr. in color p. 46
• Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum , Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 120; repr. as no. 348
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum , exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1990), repr. in color no. 5, p. 41
• Richard Mühlberger, O Que Faz de um Monet um Monet? , The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1993), pp. 48-49, repr. in color with detail
• Richard Mühlberger, What Makes a Monet a Monet? , Metropolitan Museum of Art / Viking (New York, NY, 1993), repr. in color inside back cover and details, p. 48
• Lawrence S. Cunningham and John J. Reich, Culture and Values: A Survey of the Western Humanities , Harcourt Brace College Publishers (New York, NY, 1994), pp. 365-366, repr. in color fig 16.7
• Lynn Federle Orr, Monet: Late Paintings of Givenchy from the Musée Marmottan , exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA, 1994), p. 18, repr. in color fig. 4
• H. W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson, History of Art [5th ed.] , Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1995), pp. 705-706, repr. in color, fig. 949
• H. W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson, History of Art for Young People , Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1997), p. 462, fig. 396
• Christie's Impressionist and Nineteenth Century Art , auct. cat., Christie's, New York (New York NY, November 18 1998), under no. 13, repr. in color as fig. 3
• Norio Shimada and Keiko Sakagami, Claude Monet 1881-1926 , exh. cat., Toppan Tanc (Japan, 2001), p. 92, fig. 66, repr. in color
• Lawrence S. Cunningham and John J. Reich, Culture & Values: A Survey of the Humanities , Thomson Wadsworth (Belmont, CA, 2006), pp. 491-492, repr. in color as fig.18.7
• Elizabeth M. Rudy, "Researching the Wertheim Collection at the Harvard Art Museums", Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (Summer 2014), Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 301-6, p. 303

Exhibition History

• Deuxieme exposition de peinture , Rue le Peletier, Paris, 04/01/1876 - 04/30/1876
• Monet-Rodin , Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 01/01/1889 - 12/31/1889
• French Painting since 1870 lent by Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906 , Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/01/1946 - 09/07/1946; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 07/01/1953 - 09/13/1953
• La Peinture Française depuis 1870 , Musée de la Province de Quebec, 07/12/1949 - 08/07/1949
• A Collector's Exhibition , M. Knoedler & Co., Newport, 02/06/1950 - 02/25/1950
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 07/01/1952 - 09/14/1952
• French Paintings Since 1870 from the Maurice Wertheim Collection , National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/01/1953 - 09/30/1953
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 06/15/1957 - 09/15/1957
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 06/10/1958 - 08/31/1958
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Modern French Art--Monet to Picasso , North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 06/17/1960 - 09/04/1960
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso , The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 06/13/1962 - 09/02/1962
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 06/20/1963 - 09/01/1963
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, 06/24/1965 - 09/07/1965
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 09/03/1968 - 09/22/1968
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, 06/01/1971 - 09/30/1971
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection , Maine State Museum, Augusta, 06/01/1972 - 09/01/1972
• Manet to Matisse: The Maurice Wertheim Collection , IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 04/09/1985 - 05/25/1985
• The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum , Isetan Department Store, Tokyo, 03/01/1990 - 04/10/1990; Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 04/14/1990 - 05/13/1990
• Re-View: S427 Impressionist & Postimpressionist Art , Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/02/2008 - 06/18/2011
• 32Q: 1220 Wertheim , Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

• Google Art Project

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My Favorite Object: Michael Kirchner

Related works.

Artist of original: Claude Monet

X-radiograph(s) of "red boats at argenteuil", verification level.

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at [email protected]

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Fishing Boats at Sea

Claude monet c. 1867-69, hill-stead museum farmington, united states.

In 1865, a young Monet submitted two large marine oil paintings to the official Paris Salon, and the acceptance of both marked the official beginning of his career. During the 1860s, while still in his twenties, Monet began developing a style that would eclipse that of his early mentors and painting companions. Although this painting was finished in the studio, it has the freshness of the plein-air style Monet practiced with Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold Jongkind . It also employs a kind of coarse realism, as developed by his friend, Gustave Courbet . It is the broad brushwork, the unconventional flattened picture plane, and the harsh contrast of dark and light (all techniques paralleling the work of the older Edouard Manet ), which made this work unacceptable for exhibit at the official 1869 Paris Salon. Undeterred by this rejection, however, Monet continued to develop his unique style, and, during the next decade, moved away from seascapes and other traditional subject matter toward explorations of the impact of transitory light, weather, and atmosphere on a subject.

• Title: Fishing Boats at Sea
• Creator: Claude Monet
• Creator Lifespan: 1840-1926
• Creator Nationality: French
• Date Created: c. 1867-69
• Location Created: La Havre, France
• Physical Dimensions: L. 50 3/4 in. (128.9 cm.), W. 37 1/2 in. (95.3 cm.)
• Type: Painting
• Medium: Oil
• Art Genre: Seascape
• Art Movement: French Impressionism
• Art Form: Painting
• Support: Canvas
• Depicted Location: Le Havre, France
• Depicted Topic: Sailboats

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Space and Claude Monet Sailboat Art Lesson

Creating the Illusion of Depth Space & Claude Monet Art Lesson

Third Grade Art class studied the artist Claude Monet. We are also learned about the element of art called space and how to use different perspective techniques to create the illusion of depth. We used Monet’s sailboat paintings as inspiration for our own impressionist style tempera painting.

IO: Identify how artists create depth in an artwork by making objects appear close or far way through a variety of techniques: overlapping, size, color & detail. Students will plan & create a realistic scene using these techniques to create the illusion of depth. Discuss the life and art of the artist Claude Monet. Identify how he used space techniques to create the illusion of depth in his artwork.

• Define Space -the area above, below, between, within, and around an object. Space is the illusion of depth in a 2D piece of art.
•  Types of Space: Flat & 3-Dimensional
•  Ways to Create Depth:  
• OVERLAPPING: Objects placed in the very front appear to be the closest, object placed behind several objects appear to be in the background.  (show example)
•   SIZE: Larger objects come toward us, smaller objects recede. (show example)
• COLOR: Lighter colors come forward, darker colors recede. Warm colors come foward, cool colors recede. (show example)
• DETAIL: Objects in the foreground have much more detail (sharper) than objects in the far background. Backgrounds tend to be slightly out of focus. (show example)

4. Claude Monet was born in Paris, France in 1840. He spent his last ten years painting his water garden. He died at the age of 86 years old.

Interesting Facts about Monet:

• Because of the invention of  PAINT in TUBES, Monet & other artists were able to more easily go outside & paint (plein aire artists)
• He was a great artist and helped invent the style of painting called “Impressionism.”
• He spent most of his time drawing ridiculous pictures of his teachers when he was younger!
• The mood of his paintings is happy and filled with nature.
• Monet liked to paint about nature, boats, oceans, lakes, his garden, and ponds.
• He was more interested in how something looked when the sunlight was on it.

More great info at this  Biography on Claude Monet

Activity: Claude Monet Sailboat Painting

Instructions:

• Draw at least three sailboats on the paper in 3 different sizes to help show the recession of space. Draw less detail in the farthest sailboats.
• Outline in Sharpie.
• Paint with Tempera paints. Start with background.
• Use short unblended brushstrokes to mimic the impressionistic style. Double load paint brush.

Student Examples

If you choose to use this lesson or to repost it (written info or photos), please link it back to my blog. Create Art with ME

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Red Boats at Argenteuil, 1875 by Claude Monet

Monet painted the town and surrounding area of Argenteuil through the 1870s and in each instant created pictures of beauty and harmony, which were often at odds with the reality of the moment. Although an adherent of en plein air painting, Monet carefully chose the elements he wanted to include and often finished his canvases in the studio.

There is no hint in his paintings of the pollution in the river at Argenteuil or the disarray of a town throwing everything into its industry. In Red Boats at Argenteuil ,1875, Monet has constructed the composition through the use of the boats, especially in the verticals of the masts Here again he uses contrasting colours through his blues and orange and reds and greens.

The canvas is alive with colour, while the depth of the water is illustrated through the purples and blues. The brushstrokes ore uniform through the water in their choppy style, but the sky is more broadly painted with blurring and merging colours, creating a very distinct contrast between the depth of the water and the translucence of the sky.

Impression Sunrise

San giorgio maggiore at dusk, water lilies, the artist's garden at giverny, the poppy field near argenteuil, the waterlily pond, the garden of monet at argenteuil, poppy field, tulip fields, women in the garden, cliff walk at pourville, the garden at sainte-adresse, garden path at giverny, waterloo bridge, water lilies: morning, rouen cathedral, woman with a parasol.