Who painted Seine at Rouen?

Seine at Rouen was painted by Claude Monet in 1872.

Where can I see Seine at Rouen?

Seine at Rouen is held by Hermitage Museum.

What movement is Seine at Rouen?

Seine at Rouen is associated with Impressionism.

Seine at Rouen by Claude Monet (1872) · Meaning & Museum

About this work

The painting was created early in Monet's career, when he was still developing his approach to water scenes.

Seine at Rouen is an oil painting by Claude Monet, made in 1872. It shows a sunny scene of sailing boats moored by the quays on the Seine in Rouen.

The work is part of the Otto Krebs collection at the State Hermany Museum. It reflects Monet's interest in light. The painting was created early in Monet's career, when he was still developing his approach to water scenes.

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Subject & Meaning

The painting depicts a sunlit view of sailing vessels moored along the quays of the Seine in Rouen, capturing the river as it passes through the historic Norman city. The composition is noted for its interplay of vertical and horizontal elements, with the foliage of riverside trees echoing the masts and hulls of the boats, while attention is drawn to the shimmering effects of light on the water's surface.

According to the French-language source, Monet painted the work during a stay in Rouen where he visited his brother Léon, who encouraged him to exhibit locally. The river's shifting reflections became a recurring subject that the artist would explore throughout his later career, making this early canvas an important point of departure for his ongoing study of light on water.

Technique & Style

The Seine at Rouen is an oil on canvas painting measuring 54 × 65.5 cm. Its composition is built on a vertical and horizontal structure: trees and their foliage echo the moored boats, while light effects play across the surface of the Seine. The work reflects Monet's early exploration of light reflections on water, a concern that would become central to his later practice. Painted in 1872, the sunny scene depicts sailing boats at the quays of Rouen, rendered with the loose, atmospheric handling characteristic of Monet's emerging Impressionist approach.

History & Provenance

Claude Monet painted The Seine at Rouen in 1872 while visiting his brother Léon in France. Encouraged by Léon to exhibit locally, Monet utilized this period to study light reflections on water, a theme central to the work's depiction of moored sailing boats along the Rouen quays. The oil on canvas measures 54 by 65.5 cm.

The painting later entered the private collection of Otto Krebs. Following World War II, the work was confiscated in 1945 as war reparations for damages sustained by the Soviet Union. It was subsequently transferred to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, where it has been on public display since 1995.

The painting is held in the Hermitage Museum collection as part of the Otto Krebs bequest. It was acquired through the 1945 reparations seizure of Krebs' collection following World War II damage to the USSR and has been on public display since 1995. The work was featured in the Hermitage's 2002 Monet retrospective exhibition alongside other paintings from global collections.

Context

Painted in 1872, The Seine at Rouen belongs to the early phase of Claude Monet's career, when he was developing the Impressionist preoccupation with light on water that would shape his later work. According to French-language scholarship, the canvas was produced during a visit to his brother Léon in Rouen, where local encouragement led Monet to exhibit works and to focus on reflections on the Seine, a motif he cultivated throughout his subsequent practice.

The painting measures 54 by 65.5 cm and depicts sailing boats moored along the quays on a sunny day, organized around a vertical and horizontal structure in which trees and their foliage echo the vessels. It is now held at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, having entered the Otto Krebs collection before being confiscated in 1945 as war reparations to the Soviet Union and placed on public view in 1995. A Hermitage retrospective of Monet, including this work, ran from February to May 2002.

Landscape. Seine at Asnieres, Claude Monet

Artist & collection

Artist

Claude Monet

Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of Impressionism who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it.