Claude Monet, The Basin at Argenteuil, c. 1872, oil on canvas, 60 x 80.5 cm (Musee d’Orsay, Paris). Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris
The town of Argenteuil lies on the banks of the Seine eleven kilometers to the northwest of Paris, a fifteen-minute train ride from the capital’s Gare Saint-Lazare. With its railway line and factories, residences and river walks, it is in many ways typical of the suburban towns on the outskirts of Paris. Yet the contribution it made to the evolution of modern French painting sets it apart from neighboring villages. During the 1870s and 1880s Argenteuil became an important source of inspiration for the impressionist artists, who immortalized its river views, bridges, streets, and gardens in their groundbreaking paintings. (from The National Gallery of Art)
Additional resources:
Claude Monet on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Paul Hayes Tucker, Monet at Argenteuil (Yale University Press, 1984)
Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:
[flickr_tags user_id=”82032880@N00″ tags=”bassin”]
