Fishermen in Poissy
Claude Monet·1882
Historical Context
Fishermen in Poissy, painted by Claude Monet in 1882 and now in the Belvedere in Vienna, depicts the local fishing life along the Seine at Poissy during the period Monet rented a house there before his permanent move to Giverny in 1883. Monet maintained an interest in human activity along the riverbank throughout his career — from the boating scenes at Argenteuil in the 1870s to the washerwoman compositions of later years — and the Poissy fishermen continue this engagement with the working life of the river. The Vienna Belvedere, with its strong collection of French Impressionism, provides an important institutional home for a work from a productive but transitional moment in Monet's career.
Technical Analysis
The river setting provides Monet's characteristic water-reflection challenges: the Seine's surface reflects sky and bank in passages of broken color that he renders with short, horizontal strokes. The fishermen are depicted with a degree of atmospheric indistinctness consistent with Impressionism's resistance to sharp figure definition. The color harmony is dominated by the cool blues and greens of the Seine in early morning or overcast conditions.
