The Seine in Argenteuil

The Seine in Argenteuil from 1873 at the Museum of Grenoble represents the fullest bloom of Monet's classic Impressionist period — the year he was simultaneously refining his water and light technique at Argenteuil with Renoir visiting alongside him and also producing the Impression, Sunrise canvas that would name the movement. The summer of 1873 was perhaps the most creatively exuberant single season of his life: financially more stable than at any previous point, settled at Argenteuil with Camille and Jean, and working with an almost reckless freedom of touch that the constraints of the previous decade had prevented. Renoir's parallel Seine paintings from the same visits create the most direct comparison in the history of Impressionism — two painters of comparable gifts working from nearly identical viewpoints with related but distinct techniques. The Grenoble canvas shows the Seine in the full light of summer, sails reflected in the blue-green water, bank vegetation rendered in freshly varied greens. The Museum of Grenoble holds an important collection of French painting from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods.

Summer light fills the composition with warm tones. Sails reflected in the still river create a light, airy palette of whites and blues. Bank vegetation is rendered in varied greens, the individual brush marks clearly visible yet coalescing into convincing foliage from reading distance. The sky is a warm summer blue with faint cloud.