The Islets at Port-Villez (Les Iles à Port-Villez)

Throughout his sixty-year painting career, Monet revisited the everyday wonders of the Seine estuary, often working from a studio boat. Monet brushed dawn’s pastel hues in short, hatched strokes to suggest the jutting volumes of the island foliage, whose texture loses its definition in the ripples of the river’s reflection. Skewing the focus to the right—an asymmetry underscored by the reflection—Monet set aside the traditional conventions of landscape composition.
Artist: Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926
Medium: Oil on canvas
Place Made: France
Dates: 1897
Dimensions: 32 3/16 x 39 3/4 in. (81.8 x 101 cm) Frame: 41 5/8 x 49 3/8 x 4 1/2 in. (105.7 x 125.4 x 11.4 cm)
Signature: Signed and dated lower left: "Claude Monet 97"
Collections: European Art
Museum Location: This item is not on view
Accession Number: 68.48.2
Credit Line: Bequest of Grace Underwood Barton