Waterloo Bridge, Morning Fog

Waterloo Bridge, Morning Fog is one of Claude Monet's views of the Thames from the Savoy Hotel, dated 1901. It measures 65.7 × 100.2 cm and is number 1559 in the Wildenstein catalogue raisonné. Anne Thomson of Philadelphia bought it from Durand-Ruel in 1905 and bequeathed it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1954, in memory of her parents Frank and Mary Elizabeth Clarke Thomson (1954-66-6).

What you're looking at

The palette is almost a single color: a lilac-pink haze that covers sky, bridge and river. Within it, everything is present but softened. On the far bank stand the chimneys and towers of the south bank, painted in slightly darker violet, with a puff of smoke rising from one of them. At the left, a brighter pink-white glow catches the morning sun through the fog.

The bridge crosses the middle in a band of violet-blue. Its arches are clearly shaped, each opening a lighter crescent of pale lilac and white, where the brighter water beyond shows through. Along the deck run small touches of darker color, traffic dimly seen.

In the foreground, a barge with a dark sail and a smaller boat sit on the water, painted as soft, dark smudges. The river is the same pale lilac as the sky, broken only by faint horizontal strokes.

This version's distinction lies in its evenness. Unlike the sunlit canvases, there is no glittering path of light; unlike the gray-day pictures, there is no cold green. Instead, a soft, rosy fog makes every element, industrial chimneys included, delicate.

Where and when it was painted

Monet's third and last London campaign ran from January to April 1901. He painted Waterloo Bridge in the mornings from his room at the Savoy, often in fog, which he valued above all London weather. Durand-Ruel bought the canvas in May 1904, immediately after the Paris exhibition of the Thames series.

How it was painted

The paint is applied in a dense mesh of small strokes, with lilac, pink, blue and cream laid side by side and over each other. The value range is tight, so forms emerge only through slight shifts of tone. Monet reworked the London canvases in his Giverny studio, and the even, finely woven surface here suggests careful revision.

How this version differs

In the Waterloo Bridge series, it sits between the clear, green-grey Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather in Chicago and the bright lilac Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect. Its closest match is the Hugh Lane's Waterloo Bridge, Overcast Weather, with the same chimneys, but in warm amber rather than rose. The Hermitage's Waterloo Bridge, Effect of Fog pushes the same fog into deep violet.

A detail to look for

In the upper left, a brighter patch of pinkish white glows behind the chimneys, suggesting the sun trying to break through the fog. It is the only point of real brightness in the canvas, and it is placed close to the darkest verticals, the chimneys, which makes it shine more. Below it, under the first arch, a faint warm tint touches the water. Monet often marked the source of light in a fog picture with just such a soft patch, rather than painting the sun itself. Here, it gives the picture a direction: morning light coming from upstream left, filtered through the haze of the industrial south bank.

Where to see it

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a large Impressionist collection, but the painting is not always on view. It was lent to the Courtauld Gallery's Monet and London: Views of the Thames in 2024–25. See Monet in London, where to see Monet's paintings and Claude Monet.

Anne Thomson, who bought the painting from Durand-Ruel's New York branch in June 1905, was the daughter of Frank Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. She bequeathed her collection to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1954, and the painting has been there since, one of several Monets in the museum.