Lasting Impressions

You awake to a commotion of industrial activity outside your hotel room window in the city of Le Havre on France’s northern coast. The year is 1872, and the noise compels you to investigate. Peering out your window, you notice the orange orb of the sun piercing through the thick mist that has enveloped the harbor. Across the harbor, you see the faint silhouettes of factory smokestacks, their plumes contributing to the poor visibility. The dark outline of a ship almost blends in with the smokestacks. A few dinghies bob in the foreground, rocking side to side on the uneven sea.

This is the feeling given by the painting Impression, Sunrise, by Claude Monet. Impression, Sunrise was one of many paintings at the 1874 exhibition of the “Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers” in Paris, France.

Read more at “150 Years of Lasting Impressions”