Monet at the Savoy

Solar geometry is used to accurately date the four paintings of Waterloo Bridge and one painting of Charing Cross Bridge, from Monet’s London Series, that have the sun clearly visible within the image. Monet reworked the ‘enveloppe’ within these images on subsequent days when the sun was in a similar position but did not change the position of the sun. Letters to Monet’s wife and contemporary weather data verify the probable dates. This confirms that Monet painted what he saw and that we can cautiously use his London Series as a pictorial ‘weather diary’ of typical Victorian London fogs. Monet painted these images from the Savoy Hotel during stays in 1900 and/or 1901 and the fifth floor balcony he used has now been located for the first time.