Monet | Impression, Sunrise
Monet | Impression, Sunrise
Want to see this artwork on your wall? Click here to use our free interior design service — fast and 100% free!
♡ Add to Wish List
- 100% hand-painted oil on canvas
- Delivered Framed & Ready to Hang!
- We stretch (Gallery Wrap) every canvas
- Hanging wire is attached to the back
- 100% Money Back Guarantee · Australian Owned
- Any questions? Please call us on 1300 90 21 53
About Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet
Monet painted this view of the port of Le Havre, the town he grew up in, in 1872. When it was shown two years later at the first exhibition of the independent group he belonged to, the critic Louis Leroy seized on its title and used it to mock the entire show. He called his review The Exhibition of the Impressionists, and meant it as an insult. The name stuck, and a movement took it.
It is a small painting and a fast one. The sun is a single disc of orange; the water beneath it is a handful of loaded horizontal strokes; the cranes, masts and chimneys of the harbour are barely more than smudges in the mist. In places the canvas shows through. Monet was not describing Le Havre — he later said the picture could not pass for a view of it, which is exactly why he called it an impression.
There is a quirk in it that explains why the sun seems to throb. Measured for brightness rather than colour, the orange disc is almost exactly as luminous as the grey sky around it. The part of your visual system that detects colour sees it clearly; the part that detects brightness barely registers it at all. The result is a sun that will not sit still.
Impression, Sunrise at a glance
- Artist: Claude Monet (1840–1926)
- Painted: 1872, Le Havre
- Movement: Impressionism — the painting that gave it its name
- Original: Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
- Medium: Oil on canvas, 48 × 63 cm
Common questions about Impression, Sunrise
Why is Impression, Sunrise so important?
It named Impressionism. At the group's first exhibition in Paris in 1874, the critic Louis Leroy wrote a sarcastic review built around this painting's title, describing the work as mere impressions rather than finished pictures. The artists adopted the insult, and the movement has been called Impressionism ever since.
Where is Impression, Sunrise now?
The Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, which holds the largest collection of Monet's work anywhere. The painting was stolen from the museum in an armed robbery in 1985 and recovered in Corsica five years later, undamaged.
What does the painting show?
The outer harbour of Le Havre in Normandy at dawn, looking across the water at the masts, cranes and smokestacks of the port. Astronomers analysing the tide, the smoke direction and the sun's position have narrowed it to the morning of 13 November 1872, around half past seven.
When was it painted?
1872, though it was not exhibited until April 1874. Monet was in his early thirties and largely unknown.
How much is it worth?
It belongs to the Musée Marmottan Monet and is not for sale. As the painting that named an entire movement, it is generally regarded as unvaluable in the literal sense — there is no comparable object to price it against.
Own a hand-painted Impression, Sunrise
This is not a print. Every painting we sell is reproduced in oils on canvas, by hand, by professional artists — no giclée, no computer-generated technique.
The remarkable thing about this canvas is how little paint is on it. The water is a few dragged horizontal strokes with bare canvas breathing through the gaps; the harbour behind is thinned pigment brushed in wet and left alone. Its whole character is the visible speed of the hand that made it. A print flattens that into an even, uniform film — the same image, but with the gesture and the canvas weave gone. Painted by hand in oils, the marks are marks again, and the picture recovers the looseness that made it scandalous.
- A range of sizes — choose yours above.
- Framed and ready to hang, gallery wrap, or rolled canvas if you would rather frame it yourself.
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions.
- Free delivery Australia-wide. Australian owned and operated, with a local contact you can actually reach.
Framing Options: You have 3 choices
Option 1. Choose an outer frame - see images below.
You only need to choose one and the painting will be sent to you framed and ready to hang.
* Below is an example of a customer who chose the Gold Ornate frame
Option 2: Choose a Gallery Wrap Stretched Painting.
If you want the frameless modern gallery wrap look then you only need to choose Stretched Gallery Wrap from the finish option dropdown.
You receive your stretched gallery wrap painting ready to hang - with a hanging wire attached behind.
The back of the Stretched Gallery Wrap looks like the image below - it has a hanging wire!
Option 3: Choose Canvas Only if you want to frame the painting yourself.
Your painting will be sent to you in an art tube - you can then frame it yourself or take it to your local framer.
Loved by our customers
The quality of the work is ten out of ten. The piece was affordable and the turnaround time was quite quick. What you see is what you get. I’ll definitely be getting my next painting from Direct Art Australia.
My wife already had a couple of pieces of custom ordered paintings she had collected throughout the last few years and with your large selection to choose from she found the perfect complimentary piece to finish off her room.
Great painting. Brightens up my living room.
Amazing piece…. even better than I expected. Thoroughly recommend Direct Art Australia.
This piece of art work exceeded our expectations. It was purchased for a 50th birthday gift for a lady who has everything! She was overwhelmed at the quality of the painting. Thank you art direct!
Product is as good or better than expected. Beautiful quality, very well packaged and delivered as promised. Very happy indeed with this artwork.
