Paris, 1863–1906

Claude Monet

Impression, Sunrise

1872

Oil on canvas, 19 3/4 × 25 1/2 in. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

Look at how thin and quick the paint is: Monet painted it in a few hours.

Look at

• Thin, watery paint lets the weave of the canvas show through in the upper sky.
• The nearest boat is a single dark shape, with no detail.
• The orange sun and its broken reflection are the brightest marks; orange streaks in the sky echo them.
• Ships and cranes behind are faint blue-gray shapes in the haze.

• Shown at the 1874 exhibition. A critic used its title to mock the group, and the name stuck.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain