Waterloo Bridge, London, at Dusk

The artwork

Monet went to London in winter precisely to find the fog: without the fog, he said, London would not be a beautiful city. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• Waterloo Bridge melting into the evening light above the Thames.
• Veiled blues and greens, calm and restful to the eye.
• A gift for anyone who holds London dear.

He said it to the art dealer René Gimpel, and he proved it. Between 1899 and 1901 he spent three winters in London at the Savoy Hotel, overlooking the Thames: from the upper floors he could see Waterloo Bridge to the east and Charing Cross Bridge to the south-west. He chose winter because that was when cold air, coal smoke and morning mists settled over the river.

The smoke came from factories, household stoves and steam engines, and according to the art historian Frances Fowle, Monet's paintings do not exaggerate it. Those windows gave rise to almost a hundred views of the Thames, and in 1904 Monet presented 37 of them to the public in Paris. This view at dusk dates from the same year.

The original is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington and is among the paintings announced for Monet: Painting Time, the first exhibition Tate Modern in London has devoted to Monet, from 25 February to 27 June 2027.

In a bedroom or a sitting room it brings the quietest hour of the day on the river. It is a gift for anyone who has lived in London, or dreams of going there.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass