A third rowing boat (to the top left of the second) (RED).

Most viewers then notice the central rowing boat and a secondary rowing boat in the fore- and mid-ground: they seem to be travelling slowly, as if the oarsmen are waking up with the sun. The eye is immediately drawn to the rising sun and the reflection it casts in the water. Monet probably painted the picture in one sitting. The window overlooked the port of Le Havre, on the English Channel in northern France, giving Monet a perfect view to paint the harbour at sunrise. Monet painted ‘Impression, Sunrise’ from the window of the Hôtel de l’Amirauté in Le Havre on 13 November 1872. Read on to learn more about the painting, Monet's inspiration, and how we have come to our valuation.

Today, we estimate that it is worth $250-350 million. In terms of value, the painting was initially bought in 1874 for 800 francs and sold again in 1877 for a mere 210 francs. The painting was not recovered until it was traced to a Corsican apartment five years later. Its fame was increased when it was stolen in a gunpoint raid on 27 October 1985. The painting is now displayed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, and is one of our top 10 paintings of all time. Impression: Sunrise displays a number of key impressionist features: (i) it was painted quickly, probably in a single sitting, (ii) it uses broad, unblended brushstrokes and one very bold colour, and (iii) it depicts a modern scene. But the term caught on and was adopted by the group we now call the impressionists. The critics used the painting's name to coin the word 'impressionism', intended as an insult. 'wallpaper in its early stages is more finished than that'. Claude Monet's Impression: Sunrise, painted in November 1872 when Monet was 32, is one of the most famous and important impressionist works.Įxhibited by Monet at the 1874 first impressionist exhibition, the painting was panned by the critics.

Impression sunrise claude monet