Rouen Cathedral, Harmony in White

The artwork

"Good God, this confounded cathedral is hard to do!" Monet wrote to his wife Alice on 22 February 1893, during his second year painting the facade at Rouen. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• On the left the Saint-Romain tower, beside the portal, in the white light of morning.
• Whites and the palest greys, elegant in a bright room.
• A gift for anyone who has been to Rouen or wants to go.

In 1893 Monet changed windows. He took an apartment above a novelty shop at 81 rue du Grand-Pont, further to the right than the year before. From there he saw the facade at an angle, and the Saint-Romain tower, the one to the left of the portal, came into the picture too. From that window, that winter, he began more than ten canvases with the same view.

The weather did not help. In the same letter he complained: "What terrible weather, and what changes!" Every cloud altered the light on the stone, and the cathedral was never the same twice.

The original, in the Musée d'Orsay, is known as "harmony in white" and is on show in Paris at the Musée de l'Orangerie, in the first leg of the exhibition Monet, peindre le temps (30 September 2026 to 25 January 2027).

Hung in a study, it is a reminder that even Monet had to struggle. It is a gift for anyone working on something difficult who needs a little courage.

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