Description
Claude Monet’s trip to Norway in 1895 was perhaps the most physically taxing of all his many painting campaigns. Touring the country with his stepson Jacques Hoschedé, who lived in Christiania (now Oslo), he was awestruck but initially frustrated in his search for good motifs amid the snow. Nevertheless, he painted 29 Norwegian scenes during a two-month stay. These included at least six views of Sandvika, a village near Christiania whose iron bridge may have reminded Monet of the Japanese bridge at his home in Giverny.
Provenance
The artist (d. 1926); donated to the Alfred Sisley Sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 1, 1899, lot 65 [per Galerie Georges Petit 1899]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, for 6,300 francs [per Durand-Ruel,Paris, stock book for 1891–1901 (no. 5186, as Sandviken près Christiania), 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. According to Wildenstein 1996, the picture was sold on May 1, 1899, to Durand-Ruel and Bernheim-Jeune. There are two copies of this sales catalogue, annotated differently with prices and names, at the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie. One includes a notation of 6000 and Bernheim, along with a note: “tout à fait exquise”; the other only includes a notation of 6.000; see photocopies of both versions of the sales catalogue in the curatorial object file]; sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, Oct. 24 or Nov. 13, 1900 [per Durand-Ruel, Paris stock book for 1891–1901 and Durand-Ruel, New York stock book for 1894–1905, 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; the Paris and New York Durand-Ruel stock books give different dates for the sale]; sold to Mrs. Harriet Borland (née Blair, d. 1933), Chicago, Feb. 13, 1901, for $3,500 [per Durand-Ruel, New York, stock book for 1894–1905 (no. 2391, as Sandviken, Norway), 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]; by descent from her son, Bruce Borland, Chicago, 1933; given to the Art Institute, beginning in 1961 [The painting was given to the Art Institute of Chicago in undivided fractional interests beginning in 1961. The Art Institute received the final fractional interest for one hundred percent ownership in 1963].
Accession Number
86998
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
73.4 × 92.5 cm (28 7/8 × 36 3/8 in.); Framed: 98.8 × 118.2 × 11.2 cm (38 7/8 × 46 1/2 × 4 3/8 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Bruce Borland
Background & Context
Background Story
Claude Monet's "Sandvika, Norway" (1895) is an oil on canvas that documents the artist's journey to Norway in the winter of 1895. Monet traveled to Norway to visit his stepson Jacques Hoschedé and to paint the Norwegian landscape, which offered dramatically different conditions of light and atmosphere from the French countryside he knew so well. Sandvika is a town near Oslo, on the shores of the fjord. Monet painted several views of Sandvika, capturing the snow-covered landscape, the frozen water, and the distinctive quality of Northern light. The palette is different from his French paintings—cooler, with more blues and whites, the snow providing a unifying white ground. Monet's brushwork is characteristically broken and energetic, building the forms of the landscape through touches of color rather than smooth transitions. The Norwegian sojourn was a productive period for Monet, producing a series of paintings that stand apart from his more familiar French subjects for their unusual color harmonies and exotic locale.
Cultural Impact
Monet's Norwegian paintings demonstrate the range of his vision and his willingness to travel to extreme environments in pursuit of new conditions of light and atmosphere.
Why It Matters
This view of Sandvika shows Monet responding to the unfamiliar conditions of the Norwegian winter, the snow and fjord light inspiring a palette different from his more familiar French landscapes.
