About this work
Painted almost entirely in tones of topaz, lapis, and sky blue, the façade of a building abutting a waterway fills the canvas.
The top two-thirds of the composition shows the front of the palazzo with two stories of pointed, arched windows, while two gondolas are pulled side-by-side to one of the arched openings at the canal's waterline.
A few touches of amethyst purple and mauve pink delineate architectural features and shadows amid a field of denim and pale blue, and the water below is rendered in short, horizontal strokes that create a shimmering effect, with the building's reflection captured in touches of emerald and cool green.
Monet arranges the composition as though the viewer is zooming in, filling the entire canvas with the palazzo and canal — the sky absent entirely.
The scene is very still, yet Monet gives it constant movement through swirling brushwork and the layered colors of the reflecting water.
Monet visited Venice only once, on a 1908 holiday with his wife, Alice.
He travelled there with her in early October and remained in the city for ten weeks.
From the balcony of the Palazzo Barbaro, where they first stayed on the Grand Canal, Monet could see three of the great palaces he would paint: Palazzo da Mula, Palazzo Dario, and the Palazzo Contarini.
He spent two months in Venice and made 37 oil-on-canvas paintings in total.
Referencing paintings of the city by Turner and Whistler, Monet abandoned his attempt to chart changing light over the course of a day and instead emphasized what he called the city's "envelope" — its atmospheric conditions and famous soft haze.
The trip to Venice was to be Monet's last outside France; after finishing and exhibiting the pictures in 1912, he concentrated on painting his beloved water garden at Giverny.
Art historians generally regard this period as the peak of his powers.
This painting asks to be lived with rather than glanced at. Its cool, water-saturated palette — all blue, violet, and muted green — makes it a natural fit for rooms with strong natural light and white or stone-toned walls, where the layered reflections can shift in quality through the day. Given Venice's increasing popularity as a tourist destination at the time, it is surprising to find Monet's paintings of the city devoid of people — a quality that gives them an
