Rouen Cathedral Series. The Rouen Cathedral series was painted in the 1890s by French impressionist Claude Monet.
The paintings in the series each capture the façade of the Rouen Cathedral at different times of the day and year and reflect changes in its appearance under different lighting conditions. The Rouen Cathedral paintings, more than thirty in all, were made in 1892 and 1893 in Rouen, Normandy, then reworked in Monet's studio in 1894.
Monet rented spaces in Rouen across the street from the cathedral as his temporary studio. In 1895 he selected what he considered to be the twenty best paintings from the series for display at his Paris dealer's gallery and sold eight of them before the exhibition was over.
Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne visited the exhibition and praised the series highly. Historically, the series was well-timed.
In the early 1890s, France was seeing a revival of interest in Catholicism and the subject of one of its major cathedrals was well received. Apart from its religious significance, Rouen Cathedral, built in the Gothic style, could be seen as representing all that was best in French history and culture, given that it was a style of architecture that was admired and adopted by many European countries during the Middle Ages. When Monet painted the Rouen Cathedral series, he had long since been impressed with the way light imparts to a subject a distinctly different chara
The paintings in the series each capture the façade of the Rouen Cathedral at different times of the day and year and reflect changes in its appearance under different lighting conditions. The Rouen Cathedral paintings, more than thirty in all, were made in 1892 and 1893 in Rouen, Normandy, then reworked in Monet's studio in 1894.
Monet rented spaces in Rouen across the street from the cathedral as his temporary studio. In 1895 he selected what he considered to be the twenty best paintings from the series for display at his Paris dealer's gallery and sold eight of them before the exhibition was over.
Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne visited the exhibition and praised the series highly. Historically, the series was well-timed.
In the early 1890s, France was seeing a revival of interest in Catholicism and the subject of one of its major cathedrals was well received. Apart from its religious significance, Rouen Cathedral, built in the Gothic style, could be seen as representing all that was best in French history and culture, given that it was a style of architecture that was admired and adopted by many European countries during the Middle Ages. When Monet painted the Rouen Cathedral series, he had long since been impressed with the way light imparts to a subject a distinctly different chara
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