Monet and the Impressionist Cityscape

A beautiful look at Claude Monet’s cityscape paintings of Paris.

In 1867, Monet (1840–1925) turned his back on tradition when he focused on the bustling life of Paris from the balcony of the Louvre. He was fascinated by the present in the growing French capital rather than focusing on the old masters. In a series of three paintings, he created a new pictorial topic.

Monet’s cityscapes of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, the Jardin de l’Infante, and the Quai du Louvre are considered to be the earliest Impressionist city views. In them, he casts a completely new artistic eye over the modern metropolis being rebuilt by Haussmann. By doing so, he also inspired artists like Caillebotte and Pissarro to create their own cityscapes.

Monet and the Impressionist Cityscape reveals a new subject born, in all its beauty, through the example of Monet’s three principal works, as well as others by famous Impressionist and Postimpressionist artists.

Josephine Hein is a research associate at the Alte Nationalgalerie.

Ralph Gleis is general director of the Albertina and curator of numerous exhibitions of art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.