Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge from 1901 in the Davis Museum at Wellesley College is among the earlier versions of the motif, painted when Monet was still establishing his range of atmospheric conditions. The painting was donated through the kind of private American collecting that had made Monet the most commercially successful avant-garde painter of his era — collectors led by figures like Potter Palmer and Louisine Havemeyer were buying his work in quantity from the 1890s onward. This canvas shows the bridge in a warm atmospheric condition, the stone reflecting pale ochre tones.

A warmer palette than the fog-bound variants distinguishes this canvas — the stone of the bridge picks up yellowish afternoon light rather than cold blue-gray of overcast conditions. Monet renders the Thames reflections through loose horizontal strokes that convey movement without clearly defining individual forms.