Facts About Houses of Parliament (Monet series)
Claude Monet painted a series of oil paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the British Parliament, in the fall of 1899 and the early months of 1900 and 1901 during stays in London. All of the series' paintings share the same viewpoint from Monet's window or a terrace at St Thomas' Hospital overlooking the Thames and the approximate canvas size of 81 cm × 92 cm. They are, however, painted during different times of the day and weather conditions.
By the time of the Houses of Parliament series, Monet had abandoned his earlier practice of completing a painting on the spot in front of the motif. He carried on refining the images back in France and sent to London for photographs to help in this. This caused some adverse reaction, but Monet's reply was that his means of creating a work was his own business and it was up to the viewer to judge the final result.
Impressionists in London
In 2018, the Tate Britain in London exhibited six paintings of the series, together in a single room, for the duration of a temporary exhibition titled Impressionists in London, French artists in exile (1870–1904), devoted to the temporary exile of French and impressionist artists in London during the Franco-Prussian War. This was a rare occurrence because no museum owns or exhibits more than two in a permanent collection.
The paintings were also shown at the Petit Palais when the temporary exhibition travelled from London to Paris.
The six paintings were the examples from the following collections:
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Brooklyn Museum
- Kaiser Wilhelm Museum
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Musée d'Orsay
- Museum of modern art André Malraux - MuMa
Monet & Architecture
Again in 2018, the National Gallery in London exhibited three paintings of the series, together in a single room, for the duration of a temporary exhibition titled Monet & Architecture, devoted to Claude Monet's use of architecture as a means to structure and enliven his art. This was a rare occurrence because no museum owns or exhibits more than two in a permanent collection.
The three paintings exhibited were the examples from the following collections:
Belgium