NARRATOR:
In this early seascape, the great Impressionist master Claude Monet wonderfully conveys the freshness of the outdoors. There’s also a sound sense of structure; Monet arranged all his elements to create a rhythmic harmony. The rhythmic motions of jaunty sails, birds, and waves punctuate the scene, like musical notes on the choppy water.
The Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur is one of two canvases that Monet exhibited in his first show, at the Paris Salon of 1865. The Paris-born artist was only 25, and lacked regular academic training, but his work received immediate acclaim from artists, critics, and public alike. This picture was singled out for the most praise. In the influential Gazette des Beaux-Arts, the distinguished art critic Paul Mantz proclaimed:
CRITIC (ACTOR):
“The taste for harmonious schemes of color in the play of analogous tones, the feeling for values, the striking point of view of the whole, a bold manner of seeing things and of forcing the attention of the spectator—these are qualities that Monet already possesses in high degree. His Mouth of the Seine abruptly stopped us in passing, and we shall not forget it.”
NARRATOR:
When Monet painted this seascape in 1865, Impressionism was just developing. His early success at the Salon was short-lived. In 1867, for example, his entry was rejected. Over the next few years, Monet became friends with Édouard Manet, and began to work with Impressionist painters Renoir and Pissarro, whose pictures you’ll also find in the Norton Simon Museum. In 1874, in the first independent Impressionist group exhibition, Monet showed twelve paintings. One of them, Impression: Sunrise, gave the movement its name.
Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur
1865
Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)
On View
In 1865, a twenty-four-year-old Claude Monet made his Salon debut with this picture and its pendant (today in the Kimbell Art Museum), declaring an allegiance to Courbet, Manet, and the Realist avant-garde. We stand on a jetty looking across the harbor at Honfleur, a town on the Normandy Coast where the Seine empties into the English Channel. The sails of fishing boats swell with a wind that stiffens waves in the foreground and sends clouds rolling across the sky. For all its salty immediacy, the picture was painted not outdoors—en plein air—but back in Monet’s Paris studio, on the basis of sketches he had made on-site.
Details
- Artist Name: Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)
- Title: Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur
- Date: 1865
- Culture: French
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 35 1/4 x 59 1/4 in. (89.5 x 150.5 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1973.33.2.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
The artist, sold 1865 for Ff 300 to;
Alfred Cadart, Paris.
Rousselle, sold 24 July 1922 to;
[Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, stock no. 23.095, sold 28 September 1922 to];
Georges Bernheim, Paris, still in 1924, possibly 1926.
Y. de Saint-Albin, Paris;
Jacques de Saint-Albin, Paris, by 1959.
Remond, Geneva.
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, by 1968, sold 1973 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Alfred Cadart, Paris.
Rousselle, sold 24 July 1922 to;
[Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, stock no. 23.095, sold 28 September 1922 to];
Georges Bernheim, Paris, still in 1924, possibly 1926.
Y. de Saint-Albin, Paris;
Jacques de Saint-Albin, Paris, by 1959.
Remond, Geneva.
[Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, by 1968, sold 1973 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
- Paris, Salon, to
Exposition Claude Monet 1849-1926, organisée au profit de la Société des Amis du Louvre
- Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, 1959-05-22 to 1959-09-30
On loan to Toledo Museum of Art
- Toledo Museum of Art, 1974-01-10 to 1974-08-26
Reinstallation of South Wing
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-10-07 to 1995-08-13
[on loan]
- High Museum of Art, 1980-11-20 to 1981-08-05
Selected Pictures by Claude Monet (1840-1926)
- London, Arthur Tooth and Sons Ltd., 1936-03-12 to 1936-04-04
The Lure of the Water: Impressionists at the Seashore
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-07-01 to 1993-10-10
Three Centuries of French Art: Selections from The Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art and the Norton Simon Foundation_2
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1974-10-19 to 1976-06-15
Bernard, Bruce, The Impressionists, p. 17
Malingue, Maurice, Claude Monet, p. 15
Monet, Claude, Art News Annual, p. 198
Degand, Léon and Denis Rouart, Claude Monet, p. 32
Grappe, Georges, Monet, p. 13
Mack, Gerstle, Paul Cézanne, p. 187
Lathom, Xenia, Claude Monet, p. 47
Léger, Charles, Claude Monet, p. 6
Czymmek, Götz, Dossier de l'Art, p. 62
Gimpel, René, Art in America, p. 173
Régamey, R., Gazette des Beaux-Arts, p. 76
Mount, Charles Merrill, Monet, pp. 76-77, 86-87, 90-91, 95-97, 403
Fels, Florent, Claude Monet, p. 2
Mauclair, Camille, Claude Monet, p. 6
Alexandre, Arsène, Claude Monet, pp. 34, 36, (opp. p. 36)
Taillandier, Yvon, Monet, p. 93
Rewald, John, The History of Impressionism, n. 40 pp. 122, 137
Gordon, Robert; and Andrew Forge, Monet, pp. 15-17
Thiébault-Sisson, François, Le Temps, p. 3
Mantz, Paul, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, p. 26
House, John, Monet, fig. 2 p. 6
Pigalle, L'autographe au Salon de 1865 et dans les ateliers, pen drawing p. 76
Privat, Gonzague, Place aux jeunes! Causeries critiques sur le Salon de 1865, p. 190
Le Roux, H., Gil Blas, p. 2
Cahen, Gustave, Eugène Boudin; sa vie & son oeuvre, pp. 106-107
Bricon, Étienne, Psychologie d'Art. Les Maîtres de la fin du XIXe siècle, pp. 297-298
Mantz, Paul, Le Temps, p. 3
Dewhurst, Wynford, Impressionist Painting: Its Genesis and Development, p. 39
Lanöe-Villène, Georges, Histoire de l'École Française de Paysage depuis Chintreuil jusqu' à 1900, p. 280
Duret, Théodore, Histoire des peintres impressionnistes, pp. 95, 101
Dubosc, G., Journal de Rouen, p. 4
Geffroy, Gustave, Claude Monet, sa vie, son temps, son oeuvre, pp. 27-28
Duret, Théodore, Die Impressionisten, p. 19
Duret, Théodore, Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son oeuvre avec un catalogue des peintures et des pastels, p. 61
Chavange, R., Le Figaro Artistique, p. 147
Fels, Marthe de, La vie de Claude Monet, p. 73
Tabarant, Adolphe, La vie artistique au temps de Baudelaire, p. 425
Graber, Hans, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen, pp. 166-167
Bazin, Germain, L'époque impressionniste avec notices biographiques et bibliographiques, p. 10
Reuterswärd, Oscar, Monet: En konstnärshistorik, fig. 1 pp. 28, 30-31
Robiquet, Jean, L'impressionnisme vécu, p. 62
Cassou, Jean, Les Impressionnistes et leur époque, p. 17
Mathey, François, L'impressionnisme, p. 37
Stoll, Robert Thomas, Die Französischen impressionisten, pp. 33-34
Stoll, Robert Thomas, La peinture impressionniste, p. 40
Rich, Daniel Catton, Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, p. 28
Kawachi, Nori, Claude Monet, p. 19
Lathève, Jacques, Impressionnistes et Symbolistes devant la presse, pp. 29-30
Wildenstein, Daniel, Kindlers Malerei Lexikon, pp. 466, 470
Wildenstein, Daniel, Monet. Impressions, pp. 14, 16
Bortolatto, Luigina Rossi, L'opera completa di Claude Monet, no. 8 p. 88
Bortolatto, Luigina Rossi ;and Janine Bailly-Herzberg, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Monet 1870-1889, no. 8 p. 88
Isaacson, Joel, Monet: Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, p. 98, n. 8; p. 102, n. 29 pp. 20, 98, 102
Kimball Art Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, pp. 200, 202
Wildenstein, Daniel, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, no. 51 pp. 138-139
Steadman, David W., The Connoisseur, fig. 1 pp. 220-222
Isaacson, Joel, Observation and Reflection: Claude Monet, fig. 2 pp. 14, 193
Petrie, Brian, Claude Monet: The First of the Impressionists, fig. 8 p. 16
Sietz, William C., Monet, fig. 5 pp. 10, 16, 46
Monet: A Retrospective, p. 32
Mathey, François, The Impressionists, pp. 50, 63, 66
The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886, fig. 3 p. 95
Impressionist Revolution, p. 254
National Gallery of Scotland, Lighting up the Landscape: French Impressionism and Its Origins, fig. 4 p. 18
Skeggs, Douglas, River of Light: Monet's Impressions of the Seine, pp. 24-25
Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, p. 128
Mathey, François, Les Impressionnistes et leur temps, p. 72
Levine, Steven Z., Monet, Narcissus, and Self-Reflection: The Modernist Myth of Self, fig. 5 p. 4
Seiberling, Grace, Porticus (Journal of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester), fig. 3 p. 41
Kostenevich, Albert, Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, fig. 2 pp. 132, 134
Stuckey, Charles F., Claude Monet, 1840-1926, p. 190
Wildenstein, Daniel, Monet: Catalogue Raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, no. 51
Shimada, Norio; and Sakagami, Keiko, Claude Monet, Volume I, 1858-1880, fig. 12 p. 32
Brenneman, David A., Monet: A View from the River, fig. 14 p. 31
Mühlberger, Richard, O Que Faz de um Monet um Monet?, pp. 7 - 9
Ina Conzen, Manet and the Impressionists, fig. 37 p. 41
Hodge, Susie, Claude Monet (Artists and Their World), p. 11
Eisenman, Stephen, Monet: Atti dei convegno (Symposium essays: 'Monet. I luoghi della pittura'), p. 139-141
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Manet and the Sea, fig. 63 p. 202
Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1,
Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, cat. 992 p. 360
Gimpel, René, Journal d'un collectionneur, marchand de tableaux, pp. 253-254
James H. Rubin, Edouard Manet: Initiale M, L'Oeil, Une Main, Fig. 87 p. 258
McKendry, Meredith - Editor, Monet: Impression Sunrise, pp. 41-42; p. 42 (ill.)
Ortrud Westheider & Michael Philipp (Editors), Monet: Places, fig. 4 p. 25 ; p. [24] (ill.)
Marco Goldin, Il giardino e la luna: Arte dell'Ottocento dal romanticismo all'impressionismo, pp. 341-348, p. 344-345 (ill.)
Jackie Wullschlager, Monet: The Restless Vision, pp. 81-84, p. 83 (ill.)
Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Lisa Smit and others, 150 Years of Impressionism: The Netherlands Sees the Light, 33 pp. 54-55, p. 54 (ill.)
Collective, Eugène Boudin, le père de l'impressionnisme, Fig. 8 pp. 25-27, p. 27 (ill.)
Malingue, Maurice, Claude Monet, p. 15
Monet, Claude, Art News Annual, p. 198
Degand, Léon and Denis Rouart, Claude Monet, p. 32
Grappe, Georges, Monet, p. 13
Mack, Gerstle, Paul Cézanne, p. 187
Lathom, Xenia, Claude Monet, p. 47
Léger, Charles, Claude Monet, p. 6
Czymmek, Götz, Dossier de l'Art, p. 62
Gimpel, René, Art in America, p. 173
Régamey, R., Gazette des Beaux-Arts, p. 76
Mount, Charles Merrill, Monet, pp. 76-77, 86-87, 90-91, 95-97, 403
Fels, Florent, Claude Monet, p. 2
Mauclair, Camille, Claude Monet, p. 6
Alexandre, Arsène, Claude Monet, pp. 34, 36, (opp. p. 36)
Taillandier, Yvon, Monet, p. 93
Rewald, John, The History of Impressionism, n. 40 pp. 122, 137
Gordon, Robert; and Andrew Forge, Monet, pp. 15-17
Thiébault-Sisson, François, Le Temps, p. 3
Mantz, Paul, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, p. 26
House, John, Monet, fig. 2 p. 6
Pigalle, L'autographe au Salon de 1865 et dans les ateliers, pen drawing p. 76
Privat, Gonzague, Place aux jeunes! Causeries critiques sur le Salon de 1865, p. 190
Le Roux, H., Gil Blas, p. 2
Cahen, Gustave, Eugène Boudin; sa vie & son oeuvre, pp. 106-107
Bricon, Étienne, Psychologie d'Art. Les Maîtres de la fin du XIXe siècle, pp. 297-298
Mantz, Paul, Le Temps, p. 3
Dewhurst, Wynford, Impressionist Painting: Its Genesis and Development, p. 39
Lanöe-Villène, Georges, Histoire de l'École Française de Paysage depuis Chintreuil jusqu' à 1900, p. 280
Duret, Théodore, Histoire des peintres impressionnistes, pp. 95, 101
Dubosc, G., Journal de Rouen, p. 4
Geffroy, Gustave, Claude Monet, sa vie, son temps, son oeuvre, pp. 27-28
Duret, Théodore, Die Impressionisten, p. 19
Duret, Théodore, Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son oeuvre avec un catalogue des peintures et des pastels, p. 61
Chavange, R., Le Figaro Artistique, p. 147
Fels, Marthe de, La vie de Claude Monet, p. 73
Tabarant, Adolphe, La vie artistique au temps de Baudelaire, p. 425
Graber, Hans, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen, pp. 166-167
Bazin, Germain, L'époque impressionniste avec notices biographiques et bibliographiques, p. 10
Reuterswärd, Oscar, Monet: En konstnärshistorik, fig. 1 pp. 28, 30-31
Robiquet, Jean, L'impressionnisme vécu, p. 62
Cassou, Jean, Les Impressionnistes et leur époque, p. 17
Mathey, François, L'impressionnisme, p. 37
Stoll, Robert Thomas, Die Französischen impressionisten, pp. 33-34
Stoll, Robert Thomas, La peinture impressionniste, p. 40
Rich, Daniel Catton, Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, p. 28
Kawachi, Nori, Claude Monet, p. 19
Lathève, Jacques, Impressionnistes et Symbolistes devant la presse, pp. 29-30
Wildenstein, Daniel, Kindlers Malerei Lexikon, pp. 466, 470
Wildenstein, Daniel, Monet. Impressions, pp. 14, 16
Bortolatto, Luigina Rossi, L'opera completa di Claude Monet, no. 8 p. 88
Bortolatto, Luigina Rossi ;and Janine Bailly-Herzberg, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Monet 1870-1889, no. 8 p. 88
Isaacson, Joel, Monet: Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, p. 98, n. 8; p. 102, n. 29 pp. 20, 98, 102
Kimball Art Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, pp. 200, 202
Wildenstein, Daniel, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, no. 51 pp. 138-139
Steadman, David W., The Connoisseur, fig. 1 pp. 220-222
Isaacson, Joel, Observation and Reflection: Claude Monet, fig. 2 pp. 14, 193
Petrie, Brian, Claude Monet: The First of the Impressionists, fig. 8 p. 16
Sietz, William C., Monet, fig. 5 pp. 10, 16, 46
Monet: A Retrospective, p. 32
Mathey, François, The Impressionists, pp. 50, 63, 66
The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886, fig. 3 p. 95
Impressionist Revolution, p. 254
National Gallery of Scotland, Lighting up the Landscape: French Impressionism and Its Origins, fig. 4 p. 18
Skeggs, Douglas, River of Light: Monet's Impressions of the Seine, pp. 24-25
Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, p. 128
Mathey, François, Les Impressionnistes et leur temps, p. 72
Levine, Steven Z., Monet, Narcissus, and Self-Reflection: The Modernist Myth of Self, fig. 5 p. 4
Seiberling, Grace, Porticus (Journal of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester), fig. 3 p. 41
Kostenevich, Albert, Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, fig. 2 pp. 132, 134
Stuckey, Charles F., Claude Monet, 1840-1926, p. 190
Wildenstein, Daniel, Monet: Catalogue Raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, no. 51
Shimada, Norio; and Sakagami, Keiko, Claude Monet, Volume I, 1858-1880, fig. 12 p. 32
Brenneman, David A., Monet: A View from the River, fig. 14 p. 31
Mühlberger, Richard, O Que Faz de um Monet um Monet?, pp. 7 - 9
Ina Conzen, Manet and the Impressionists, fig. 37 p. 41
Hodge, Susie, Claude Monet (Artists and Their World), p. 11
Eisenman, Stephen, Monet: Atti dei convegno (Symposium essays: 'Monet. I luoghi della pittura'), p. 139-141
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Manet and the Sea, fig. 63 p. 202
Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1,
Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, cat. 992 p. 360
Gimpel, René, Journal d'un collectionneur, marchand de tableaux, pp. 253-254
James H. Rubin, Edouard Manet: Initiale M, L'Oeil, Une Main, Fig. 87 p. 258
McKendry, Meredith - Editor, Monet: Impression Sunrise, pp. 41-42; p. 42 (ill.)
Ortrud Westheider & Michael Philipp (Editors), Monet: Places, fig. 4 p. 25 ; p. [24] (ill.)
Marco Goldin, Il giardino e la luna: Arte dell'Ottocento dal romanticismo all'impressionismo, pp. 341-348, p. 344-345 (ill.)
Jackie Wullschlager, Monet: The Restless Vision, pp. 81-84, p. 83 (ill.)
Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Lisa Smit and others, 150 Years of Impressionism: The Netherlands Sees the Light, 33 pp. 54-55, p. 54 (ill.)
Collective, Eugène Boudin, le père de l'impressionnisme, Fig. 8 pp. 25-27, p. 27 (ill.)
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