Rouen Cathedral in Grey Weather

The artwork

In 1895 Georges Clemenceau urged the French State to buy all of Monet's Rouen Cathedrals together; the State did not, but this one reached it anyway, sixteen years later, thanks to a collector. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The cathedral portal in a grey, even light, without sharp shadows.
• Pearly greys and blues, refined in a modern room.
• A gift for anyone who loves art history and the stories behind it.

Monet had painted the facade of Rouen Cathedral, in Normandy, between February and April of 1892 and 1893, from windows overlooking the square, and then reworked the canvases for months in his studio. In May 1895 he showed twenty of them in Paris, at the gallery of his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel.

Georges Clemenceau, then a journalist and later head of the French government, wrote an article in the newspaper La Justice titled "Revolution of Cathedrals". He called on the President of the Republic, Félix Faure, to buy the whole series for the nation, because in his view those paintings had to be seen together. The proposal came to nothing, and the canvases were scattered among collectors.

Count Isaac de Camondo, a banker and a great collector, bought several of them and on his death, in 1911, left them to the State. This is one of them: it belongs to the Musée d'Orsay 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).

In a corridor or a study, its calm grey light goes well with wood and books. It is a gift for anyone who loves Paris and its museums.

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