Snow in Argenteuil|Claude Monet |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 28 August 2023

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On Display

Permanent collection

Claude Monet

Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926

Snow in Argenteuil

Date	1875
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	55.5 x 65
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower right: Claude Monet 75
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Wildenstein 351; M775
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0150

The town of Argenteuil is situated along the Seine just a short distance from Paris by train, and was known as a favorite destination for weekend tourists from Paris who enjoyed boating. Monet lived in this region from 1871-78 with his wife Camille and their newborn first son Jean. This seven-year Argenteuil period can be called Monet's formative period as an Impressionist. He created several works during this period that abound with freshness. Motifs that attracted Monet included the yachts on the Seine, and as can be seen in this work, the sights of the town's streets. This work painted during the winter of 1875 depicts the new Saint-Denis boulevard just before it was finished, and the railway station. Once Monet began painting works out of doors he immediately began creating snowscapes. The subject, held in low esteem by his fellow artists, was enthusiastically taken up by Monet, who was fascinated by the subtle play of light on the surface of the snow. He painted works filled with huge falling snowflakes, and others such as this depicting the bright morning light after a snow fall. All of these works show Monet's involvement with ever-changing nature and his sensitivity to subtle nuances of shadow. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.71)

Provenance

[?] Duez, Paris; purchased from Duez by Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Paris, 1892; purchased from Boussod, Valadon & Cie by P. Gallimard, Paris, 1892; purchased from Gallimard by Galerie Georges Bernheim, Paris, 1920, stock no. 11429; purchased by M. Knoedler & Co., stock no. 6706/15091, Paris, 27 August 1920 ($4,400); purchased from Knoedler by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe,12 December 1921 (Fr. 67,000) [see M. Knoedler & Co. records, in The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (copies in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1924: Inaugural exposition of French art, The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, 0 1924 - 0 1925, cat. no. 40
1924: Exposition Claude Monet, organisée au bénéfice des Victimes de la Catastrophe du Japon, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 4 January 1924 - 18 January 1924, cat. no. 26
1947: De David à Cézanne, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussel, 0 November 1947 - 0 January 1948, cat. no. 114, pl. 60, repr.
1948: Gli impressionisti alla XXIV Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, 0 1948 - 0 1948, cat. no. 5
1949: Landscape in French art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 0 1949 - 0 1950, cat. no. 237
1952: Monet, Kunsthaus, Zürich, 0 1952 - 0 1952, cat. no. 36(Paris, 1952, cat. no. 31)
1952: Monet, Dienst voor Schone Kunsten, Den Haag, 0 1952 - 0 1952, cat. no. 34
1958: Paysages de France, Musée de Rouen, 0 1958 - 0 1958
1960: The Masterpieces of the Ex-Matsukata Collection, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 14 May 1960 - 10 July 1960, cat. no. 67
1964: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Nakajima Sports Center of Hokkaido Prefecture, 22 August 1964 - 13 September 1964, cat. no. 10
1978: European Landscape Painting, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 14 September 1978 - 26 October 1978, cat. no. 74, repr.
1978: European Landscape Painting, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, 3 November 1978 - 15 January 1979, cat. no. 71
1982: Monet, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 9 October 1982 - 28 November 1982, cat. no. 11
1994: Monet : A Retrospective, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation, 11 February 1994 - 7 April 1994, Nagoya City Art Museum, 16 April-12 June 1994, cat. no. 23, col. repr.
1995: [Exhibition for Children] Exploring Mysterious Painted World, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 July 1995 - 10 September 1995
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 5
2010: Image of the Seine: Impressionists and Japanese Painters, The Bridgestone Museum of Art, 30 October 2010 - 23 December 2010, Hiroshima Museum of Art, 2011年1月3日-2月27日, cat. no. 3-9, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, Pola Museum of Art, 13 July 2013 - 24 November 2013, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013-9 March 2014, cat. no. 2, col. repr.
2017: Monet: Framing Life, Detroit Institute of Arts, 22 October 2017 - 4 March 2018, cat. no. 5, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 99, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature - from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 4 June 2022 - 11 September 2022, cat. no. 8

Bibliography

1908: Vauxcelles, L. Collection de M. P. Gallimard. Les Arts. Sep. 1908, p. 21.
1927: Liebermann, M. Claude Monet. Kunst und Künstler. vol. 25, 1927, p. 166, repr.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 13, col. repr.
1959: Mizue: a monthly review of the fine arts. no. 651, Special Number, July 1959 (in Japanese)
1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-208.
1963: Gimpel, R. Journal d'un collectionneur. Paris, 1963, p. 154.
1968: Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 2 (1967), 1968, Nakayama, Kimio, preface; Kuroe, Mitsuhiko, catalogue. Claude Monet dans les collections japonais, p. 5, no. 3, repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 48, repr.
1972: Bortolatto, L. R. L'opera completa di Claude Monet, 1870-1889. Milano, 1972, p. 96, no. 110, repr.
1974: Wildenstein, D. Claude Monet, biographie et catalogue raisonné. tome 1, Lausanne/ Paris, 1974, p. 264, no. 351, repr.; tome 5, 1991, p. 29.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 31, repr.
1978: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 39, repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 190, repr.
1982: Tucker, Paul, Hayes. Monet at Argenteuil. New Haven/ London, 1982, p. 51, fig. 26.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 1066.
1996: Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet: Catalogue raisonné. vol. 2, Cologne, Taschen, 1996, p. 145, cat. no. 351, repr.
2006: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 71, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 71, col. repr.
2010: Image of the Seine: Impressionists and Japanese Painters(exh. cat.). [Tokyo], Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation: [Hiroshima], Hirosima Museum of Art, c2010, cat. no. 3-9, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 2, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 86, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 775, col. repr.

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