Charing Cross Bridge, The Thames

Charing Cross Bridge, The Thames (Charing Cross Bridge, la Tamise) is a canvas Claude Monet signed and dated 1903, finished at Giverny from a view he began at the Savoy Hotel in London. It is one of the few versions in which the sun is visible twice: as an orange glow at the top of the sky and as a pale disc sinking just above the bridge, its light breaking into gold and white flecks on the water. It belongs to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (inv. B 1725), bequeathed by the collector Raymond Koechlin in 1933.

What you are looking at

The canvas is wide, about 73 by 100 cm. The bridge crosses just below the middle as a band of dusky violet-blue, with three groups of heavy piers. Behind it, on the right, the Victoria Tower and the clock tower of Westminster rise in pale blue, along with a lower line of buildings, all softened by mist.

The light is what sets this version apart. At the top of the picture, a patch of warm orange and gold breaks through the gray-lilac haze. Lower down, just above the bridge and left of center, a small white disc with a halo of pale blue sits in the fog: the sun itself, low over the river, or its reflection on a bank of mist. Beneath it the river glitters in a broad band of gold, salmon and white dashes between the piers, fading to turquoise and blue at the edges. A faint wisp of smoke trails along the deck to the right of the sun. The signature, Claude Monet 1903, is in the lower left corner.

Where and when it was painted

Monet painted from the Savoy Hotel in autumn 1899 and in early 1900 and 1901, looking upriver at the Hungerford railway bridge, called Charing Cross Bridge, and downriver at Waterloo Bridge. Low winter sun set upriver, in the direction of Westminster, so a sun hanging over this bridge points to a late afternoon. Monet then spent until 1904 finishing the canvases in his studio, and this one bears the date 1903. See our Monet in London hub for the full story.

How it was painted

The handling is layered and atmospheric, with short strokes in the sky worked in many directions and horizontal touches on the water. Monet kept the bridge as a firm, slightly darker band, stronger than in the foggiest versions, which gives the composition a clear structure. The sun and its reflection are rendered with thicker, brighter paint, so they physically stand out from the surface. The Lyon museum notes that Monet's view from the Savoy produced a long run of pictures, of which this is one.

Raymond Koechlin

Raymond Koechlin (1860–1931) was a Paris collector and historian of medieval art who served as president of the Société des Amis du Louvre. He collected Impressionist painting and Japanese art, and left a large group of works to French museums. His bequest gave Lyon one of the most important modern holdings in a French regional museum, including this Monet.

How this version differs

Most Charing Cross canvases hide the sun; this one shows it, which links it to Reflections on the Thames in Baltimore, where a pale sun hangs in a gray sky, and to Fog on the Thames at Harvard, where it becomes a red disc. Next to the Saint Louis canvas of the same year, painted under a dark, smoky sky, the Lyon version is lighter and more luminous. The full series is on our Charing Cross Bridge series page.

Where to see it

The painting is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, housed in a former abbey on the Place des Terreaux, which has a strong collection of Impressionist and modern French painting. Check the museum's website for current display. For other collections, see where to see Monet's paintings.