Home, seen from a window
Monet grew up on this stretch of Norman coast, where the painter Eugène Boudin had first shown him how to paint straight from nature. In 1872 he came home and set up at a window above the harbour to paint it.
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Impression, Sunrise
Claude Monet · 1872
painting
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Monet painted Le Havre’s harbour from a window in 1872. The title Impression, Sunrise supplied the word Louis Leroy used mockingly in his review of the independent exhibition of 1874. That word became the movement’s name.
Details
The orange sun appears brighter than the mist around it, although a greyscale comparison gives them similar brightness. Its colour contrast creates the glare. Boats and harbour structures emerge through loose strokes rather than precise outlines.
In its time
1872
Books from this period
Where it hangs
Musée Marmottan Monet
In context
A catalogue title
Asked to name the hazy view of Le Havre for the exhibition catalogue, Monet supplied Impression. The modest title later gave a movement its name.
The joke that named a movement
Reviewing the independent exhibition of 1874, Louis Leroy mocked the painting’s finish by comparing it with wallpaper. His use of its title helped give Impressionism its name.
Brightness through colour
The orange sun appears brighter than the misty sky. In greyscale, their brightness is similar: the difference in colour creates the impression of glare.
Home at the Marmottan
The painting now hangs at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, which has held it since 1940, when the museum opened its doors to Impressionism with this one canvas as the foundation of its collection.
The story
1872. Monet, who grew up on this stretch of Norman coast, came home to Le Havre and set up at a window above the harbour to paint it at sunrise, its boats and masts hazy in the morning mist.
Asked for a title for the catalogue, Monet would not call his hazy view of the port finished. "Put Impression," he said, half apologising, and the name stayed.
April 1874. At the show Monet mounted with Degas, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley after years of Salon rejections, critic Louis Leroy mocked it for scorn, joking that wallpaper was more finished than this seascape.
Leroy meant it as an insult, but the word he borrowed from the title, Impressionism, was taken up on every side and gave the whole rebel movement its name.
1940. The Musée Marmottan Monet opened its doors to Impressionism with this one canvas, which became the foundation of its collection and still hangs there today.
Impressionism
The name Impressionism grew from Louis Leroy’s mocking review of the 1874 exhibition. Monet’s title provided the word; his loose harbour scene provided the critic’s target.