Claude Monet

With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Claude Monet fled to London to escape military conscription. On his way back to Paris he spent four months in Holland in the summer of 1871, probably due to the ongoing political tension in the French capital. He settled in Zaandam, a town of about twelve thousand inhabitants eight kilometers north of Amsterdam. In letters to his friend and fellow artist Camille Pissarro, he expressed his enthusiasm for his new surroundings, assuring him that in Holland there was “enough to keep a painter busy his entire life.” Monet painted around 24 views of Zaandam, focusing primarily on traditional windmill motifs and the picturesque gabled architecture along the slow-moving waters of the ports and canals. The sketch-like execution and intense coloration of these compositions prefigure the mature Impressionist style Monet would develop over the next seven years in Argenteuil.

The Port of Zaandambelongs to a group of paintings in which Monet methodically observed the terrain from differing perspectives and at differing times of day. While Boats at Zaandam is illumined by the clear light of a summer afternoon, here the row of houses in the background is backlit against the setting sun. The glowing yellow and orange streaks in the sky are applied in broad impasto strokes, while the reflections on the water form an abstract web of thick daubs of paint. The massive mooring pile at the right disrupts the equilibrium and bespeaks Monet’s often radical rejection of established compositional formulae.

In the four-volume catalogue raisonné of Monet’s paintings compiled by Daniel Wildenstein, The Port of Zaandam is listed as no. 188 (vol. 2, p. 87).

Daniel Zamani

Masterpieces, Wildenstein, London, May 31–July 17, 1951, no. 17

Claude Monet, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, August 18–September 7, 1957; Tate Gallery, London, September 26–November 3, 1957, no. 26 (only in Edinburgh)

Claude Monet: The Early Years, Lefevre Gallery, London, May 8–June 7, 1969, no. 7

Impressionism: its Masters, its Precursors, and its Influence in Britain, Royal Academy of Arts, London, February 9–April 28, 1974, no. 69

Des impressionnistes à l'école de Paris, Galerie de Takashimaya, Yokohama, September 6–18, 1979; Galerie de Takashimaya, Tamagawa, Tokyo, September 20–October 2, 1979, no. 7

Monet in Holland, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, October 17, 1986–January 4, 1987, no. 1

Monet: The Early Years, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, October 16, 2016–January 29, 2017; Legion of Honor, San Francisco, February 25–May 29, 2017, no. 45

Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature, Denver Art Museum, October 20, 2019–February 2, 2020

Monet: Orte, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, February 22–July 19, 2020, no. 34

Impressionism: The Hasso Plattner Collection, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, from September 5, 2020

ca. 1888, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, purchased from the artist
May 3, 1892, Galerie Manzi, Paris, acquired from the above
n.d., Bergaud Collection, France
n.d., Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
ca. 1899, Adolphe Tavernier, Paris
March 6, 1900, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 57, consigned by the above
n.d., Rosenberg, Paris
February 26, 1902, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, acquired from the above
March 5, 1903, Paul Cassirer, Berlin, acquired from the above
n.d., Dr. Ernst Spiegelberg, New York
n.d., Justin K. Thannhauser, Berlin and New York, on commission from the above
March 1948, Wildenstein, New York, acquired from the above
n.d., Wildenstein, London, acquired from the above
December 1951, M. and Mme Jacques Guerlain, Paris, acquired from the above
December 3, 1974, Christie’s, London, lot 48
November 16, 1983, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 15
Private collection, USA, acquired at the above sale
June 19, 2018, Sotheby’s, London, Lot 8, consigned by the above

Théodore Duret, Histoire des Peintres lmpressionnistes, Paris 1906, p. 86 (Vue en Hollande)

Vittorio Pica, Gl'Impressionisti francesi, Bergamo 1908, ill. p. 67 (Marina olandese)

Masterpieces, exh. cat. Wildenstein, London 1951, no. 17 (View of Holland)

Claude Monet, exh. cat. The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 1957, no. 26

Claude Monet, exh. cat. The Tate Gallery, London 1957, no. 26, plate 17

Frans Mars, Claude Monet: Zaandam 150 Jaar Stad, Zaandam 1962, ill. p. 329/30

Yvon Taillandier, Monet, Paris 1963, ill. p. 63 (Marina, Olanda)

Claude Monet: The Early Years, exh. cat. The Lefevre Gallery, London 1969, no. 7, ill. p. 31

Luigina Rossi Bortolatto, L'Opera Completa di Claude Monet 1870-1889, Milan 1972, no. 48, ill. p. 91 (Marina olendese)

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 1, Lausanne 1974, no. 188, p. 201, ill. p. 201

Impressionism: its Masters, its Precursors, and its Influence in Britain, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London 1974, no. 69

Luigina Rossi Bortolatto and Janine Bailly-Herzberg, Tout l'œuvre peint de Monet, Paris 1981, no. 56, ill. p. 92

Monet in Holland, exh. cat. Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam 1986, no. 1 (The Harbour and the Dam), ill. p. 18, 104

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 5, Lausanne 1991, no. 188, p. 25

Paul Hayes Tucker, Claude Monet: Life and Art, New Haven 1995, no. 60, ill. p. 50

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue Raisonné. Werkverzeichnis, vol. 2, Cologne 1996, no. 188, p. 87, ill. p. 86

Monet: The Early Years, exh. cat. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth 2016, no. 45

Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature, exh. cat. Denver Art Museum, Denver 2019, no. 34, p. 55, 126, ill. p. 134, 124 (detail)

Monet: Orte, exh. cat. Museum Barberini, Potsdam 2020, no. 34, p. 55, 126, ill. p. 124 (detail), 134