Vétheuil

Vétheuil was Monet's base from 1878 to 1881, a small town on the Seine northwest of Paris where he retreated after financial difficulties forced him to leave Argenteuil. The town with its church reflected in the river became one of his most repeated motifs from these years, a subject he returned to in numerous canvases exploring different seasons, light conditions, and atmospheric effects. The Vétheuil subjects have a particular emotional resonance given the personal tragedy of Camille's death there in 1879, though Monet's paintings of the town offer no direct trace of that grief.

Monet typically views Vétheuil from the opposite bank of the Seine, the church and town reflected in the river below. The reflection creates a mirror structure that doubles the motif, the reflected image typically rendered with more dissolved, horizontal strokes than the buildings above. The palette shifts with the season and time of day depicted.