Description

Claude Monet painted the 18 works in his Mornings on the Seine series from a flat-bottomed boat anchored to the riverbank where the Epte River flows into the Seine. There, as the light changed from dawn to day, he worked on one canvas after another. To keep them in order, he numbered them, placed them in grooves built into the boat, and had the gardener whom he enlisted as his assistant hand them to him.

Provenance

Jos Hessel, Paris, by Oct. 26, 1916 [this and the following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1913–21 (no. 10908, as Matinée sur la Seine, 1897), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file; Wildenstein 1996 states this painting was sold by the artist to Durand-Ruel in 1913, which is not mentioned in the Durand-Ruel Archives]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, Oct. 26, 1916, for 20,000 francs; sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, Nov. 6 or Dec. 4, 1916 [per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1913–21 (no. 10908, as Matinée sur la Seine, 1897) states: “Sold to DR New York on 6 November 1916.” The New York stock book for 1904–24 (no. 4023, as Matinée sur la Seine, 1897) states: “Purchased by DR New York on 4 December 1916.” Both confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file]; sold to Martin A. Ryerson, Chicago, Dec. 8, 1916, for $10,000 [per Durand-Ruel, New York, stock book for 1904–24 (no. 4023, as Matinée sur la Seine, 1897), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file; also a purchase receipt on Durand-Ruel letterhead, dated December 26, 1916, includes this painting as one of several sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to M. A. Ryerson, photocopy in curatorial object file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.