Historique
Impression, sunrise: the saga of a legendary painting…
This year the painting that launched the impressionist movement, ‘Impression, sunrise’, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. What a great opportunity to look back on the history of this iconic seascape and jewel in the crown of the Marmottan Monet* Museum’s collections…
Winter, 1872. From a room at the Amirauté Hotel located at 41-45 Grand-Quai, Claude Monet captured Le Havre’s outer harbour in the dawn fog… The exact date of this painting, with its clearly defined pure orange sun and distilled light reflections in the water, has long been debated. Did you know that the topographical, iconographical, meteorological and astrological studies undertaken by University of Texas astronomer and physics professor Donald Olson have enabled this painting to be extremely precisely dated? It was at 7.35 am on 13 November 1872, thirty minutes before dawn, that the artist created his masterpiece in one sitting…
Exhibited two years later, on 15 April 1874, in photographer Nadar’s former studio, the painting caused outrage. Its most vociferous critic, Louis Leroy, mocked this seascape with its sketch-like style that flouted the rules of academic painting. In his article dated 25 April, the journalist held nothing back: “An impression, I’m sure. I thought to myself, this has made an impression on me so there must be impressions somewhere in there […].” Louis Leroy lambasted more generally what he ironically christened “the exhibition of impressionists”, little imagining that half a century later the movement – whose reputation he incidentally established – would generate such international enthusiasm!
In May 1874, the daring ‘Impression, sunrise’ was purchased for 800 francs by collector Ernest Hoschedé. The artwork was resold four years later, through Drouot during a court auction of the Hoschedé collection, for the modest sum of 210 francs. The price highlighted the indifference towards it at the time! Georges Bellio, benefactor of impressionists and new owner of the painting, bequeathed it to his daughter Victorine and his son-in-law Eugène Donop de Monchy. They decided to gift it to the Marmottan Museum in 1940, which was owned by the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Deemed too ground-breaking, the artwork was ignored. ‘Impression, sunrise’ sat protected in the Château de Chambord during the war, waiting in the shadows. It was not until the 1950s that well-known art historians, including the American John Rewald, pointed out the artwork’s founding role. Then its climax came in 1959. When loaned to the Mulhouse Museum, the artwork was insured for… 50 million francs!
In 1985, when Claude Monet had become one of the most sought-after artists, three gunmen entered the Marmottan Museum and stole the masterpiece. ‘Impression, sunrise’ disappeared for five years, before being miraculously rediscovered in 1990 in an apartment in Porto-Vecchio, Southern Corsica, following an extraordinary hunt launched in Japan using contacts in the Yakuza (organised crime network).
Did this crazy theft help to establish the painting’s legend? The entire world wants to see this pivotal modern artwork, which is now venerated from New York to Tokyo. ‘Impression, sunrise’… The Mona Lisa of impressionism?
*To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the impressionist movement’s founding artwork, the Marmottan Monet Museum will open an exhibition on 21 September entitled ‘Facing the Sun’. This is a great opportunity to trace the evolution of sun depictions in art, from ancient times to today…
