In October 2018, the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester (MAG) will present a major focus exhibition of paintings from the Impressionist master Claude Monet’s series “Waterloo Bridge.” Monet’s Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process will include the stellar example from MAG’s collection along with seven other versions borrowed from North American sister institutions, including the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Worcester Art Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. The exhibition will be on view at MAG from October 7, 2018 through January 6, 2019.
“It is an honor to present these exceptional works of art from such important institutions here in Rochester,” said MAG Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director Jonathan Binstock. “The exhibition is advancing scholarship on Monet by developing new knowledge about his working process over the extended period of time when he made these works. Of course, the exhibition is also a rare opportunity to see a thoughtful selection of pictures from Monet’s stunning and revolutionary late period.” Dan Burns, the Rochester Regional President of M&T Bank, presenting sponsor of the exhibition, said in support that “Rochester is a vibrant, creative community—thanks in large part to our wonderful arts culture. At M&T, we are dedicated to fostering the arts in all of the communities in which we operate and we are proud to play a role in bringing these masterpieces to Rochester for all our neighbors
to enjoy.”
Monet painted over 40 versions of Waterloo Bridge during three London sojourns between 1899 and 1901. He saw these paintings both individually and as an ensemble that, collectively, expressed his sense of the essential subject—the atmosphere and colors of the fog-bound landscape of London’s Thames River. The exhibition Monet’s Waterloo Bridge offers visitors the unique opportunity to experience several versions of the series concurrently; creating a special dialogue that allows a rare glimpse at Monet’s artistic vision as well as the process by which he struggled to achieve that vision.
Close examination of the pigments and surface textures of the paintings, and extensive new imaging and materials analysis conducted on MAG’s Waterloo Bridge by scientists at the Art Conservation Program at Buffalo State University, shed light on Monet’s artistic process. Visitors will be able to explore Monet’s creative process through state-of-the-art interactive technology that makes the scientific imaging accessible, as well as through a documentary video created specifically for the exhibition. Monet’s Waterloo Bridge will be accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, published by RIT Press, with essays on Monet’s London series paintings; the artist, his dealer, and the marketing of the London series paintings; and the interpretation of recent imaging analysis. Contributors include Professor Grace Seiberling of the University of Rochester; Jennifer Thompson, curator of European art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and James Hamm, head of Paintings Conservation at Buffalo State University.
EXHIBITION CREDIT LINE:
Presented by M&T Bank and the Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery, with additional support from The McDonald Family, Riedman Foundation, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Fund, and Woods Oviatt Gilman, LLP. Funding is also provided by Dr. Dawn F. Lipson, Nancy G. Curme, and James and Geraldine Moore.
Claude Monet and the London Series Paintings
Claude Monet (1840‒1926) was the founder of French Impressionist landscape painting, a movement that had at its core the visual capture of the effects of light in its myriad forms. Monet’s paintings are especially notable for how they represent the reflections of light on water, the relation of light to shadow and color, and the effects of shifting light. In 1877, he painted the station at St. Lazare several times as he sought to uncover how the smoke and steam of trains affected the opacity and transparency of color and visibility. From the 1880s until the end of his career, Monet painted a number of series of paintings in which he repeatedly depicted the same subject in different light, at different hours of the day, and through the changes of weather and season. The so-called “Thames Pictures,” three series which include “Waterloo Bridge,” are among these.
Monet spent a total of six months from 1899–1901 in London, where he painted multiple versions of three landmarks on the Thames River: Charing Cross Bridge, the Parliament Houses, and Waterloo Bridge. At the end of his final visit, he felt that none of the paintings were ready for exhibition. He took all the canvases back to France, where, in his determination to capture the colors of the fog and smog of the Thames as they appeared at a given moment, he spent the next three years working and reworking the canvases. He worked in part from his references, in part from memory, and in part from comparing the multiple canvases to each other, refusing to give any up until he felt the entire series was completed. It was only after much pressure from his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel that he finally released several canvases for the first exhibition of his Thames pictures in 1904.