Le Parlement, symphonie en bleu

Le Parlement, symphonie en bleu from 1903 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta is among the coolest in chromatic character of all the London Parliament paintings — the building seen through blue-dominated fog that gives the composition an almost monochromatic quality. Atlanta's High Museum has built a strong French Impressionist collection that includes this striking blue variant. The "symphonie" designation in the title connects this work explicitly to Whistler's musical titling conventions — Monet was aware of Whistler's Thames nocturnes, though he resisted reducing his work to pure color abstraction.

Blue dominates every element — sky, atmospheric haze, Thames water, and even the Parliament's stone silhouette — with only the slightest variations in warmth and coolness differentiating the composition's zones. The Parliament emerges as a marginally darker and more violet-blue than its surroundings, the tonal distinction minimal but sufficient.