Claude Monet, French, 1840–1926, Waterloo Bridge, 1903, oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum collection, Museum Purchase, 1910.37. Photograph courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum
January 25 – April 28, 2019
Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process brings together nine stellar versions of Claude Monet's well-known series of paintings depicting London's Waterloo Bridge. These paintings, which include WAM's own 1903 version of the iconic London landmark, reveal the breadth of Monet's emphasis on color, light, and density. Monet's later paintings often relied on the concept of seriality, sometimes resulting in dozens of variations of the same subject. His Waterloo Bridge series presents an ensemble that, collectively, expresses the essential qualities Monet found inherent to the River Thames' fog-bound landscape. The exhibition gives viewers a rare opportunity to view an exceptional grouping of Monet's paintings — made possible through loans from museum collections across the United States — and to examine closely the Impressionist's artistic process.
Extensive new imaging and materials analysis provide the interpretive foundation for this exploration of Monet's process, which will be incorporated into both technological interactives in the exhibition and in an accompanying catalogue. Published by Rochester Institute of Technology Press, the catalogue includes contributions by Professor Grace Seiberling of the University of Rochester; Jennifer Thompson, curator of European art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and James Hamm, head of paintings conservation at Buffalo State University.
The exhibition Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process and accompanying catalogue and technology originated at the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process was adapted for special presentation at the Worcester Art Museum. Lenders include: Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Denver Art Museum, Memorial Art Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, and National Gallery of Art.
Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process at Worcester Art Museum is sponsored by Bassick Family Foundation and Cornerstone Bank.
Additional support is provided by The Ruth and John Adam, Jr. Exhibition Fund, The Heald Curatorial Fund and The Michie Family Curatorial Fund.
Media Partners: The Boston Globe and WBUR
Bite-Sized Art Talks
Art and artist questions explained in ninety seconds or less.
Why did Monet paint in serials?
What Monet painted in London
What makes Worcester's “Waterloo Bridge” painting unusual?
Press
WGBH
WGBH Greater Boston Full Show
By WGBH News, April 24, 2019
WGBH
Arts This Week
By WGBH News, April 11, 2019
Forbes
Exhibitions And Auctions Prove Claude Monet As Popular As Ever
By Chadd Scott, April 11, 2019
WGBH
Monet and London's Waterloo Bridge And Keith Hamilton Cobb
Presented by Jared Bowen, April 5, 2019
The Boston Globe
Monet's bridge to modernity
By Murray Whyte, March 31, 2019
Artscope
Monet's Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process at Worcester Art Museum
By Brian Goslow, March 14, 2019
The Wall Street Journal
Paintings That Span London's Many Moods
By Judith H. Dobrzynski, January 29, 2019
Related Programs
Thursday, February 21, 2019, 6pm
Master Series Third Thursday: New Light on Monet.
Speaker: Gloria Groom, Ph. D., David and Winton Green Curator at The Art Institute of Chicago.
Presented with support from the Bernard and Louise Palitz Fund and the Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture Fund.
Master Series is sponsored by AbbVie.
Selected Images:
