# The Houses of Parliament, Sunset

**Claude Monet** (French, 1840–1926)  
1903  
oil on canvas  
overall: 81.3 x 92.5 cm (32 x 36 7/16 in.) framed: 107 x 117.5 x 8.8 cm (42 1/8 x 46 1/4 x 3 7/16 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1963.10.48. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46523.html).

## About this work

The towers of the Houses of Parliament dissolve into blue silhouette against a sky of pink, apricot and lavender, their reflection broken into short horizontal strokes on the Thames, where a single small boat drifts near the centre. Monet painted this series from a terrace at St Thomas’ Hospital across the river during visits to London between 1899 and 1901, then completed the canvases in his studio at Giverny; this one is dated 1903. He loved London’s fog and smoke for the way they softened solid forms into pure effects of colour and light.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Claude Monet painted this in 1903, aged 63. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

A row of spire-like structures of different heights is silhouetted in azure blue against a soft pink, yellow, peach, and lavender-purple sunset and reflected in a rippling river in this nearly square landscape painting. Along the horizon, the buildings stretch from our right, almost fully across the canvas, and are painted with vertical brushstrokes in cool shades of blue. The sky behind the towers seems hazy with intermingling, pastel-colored clouds. The buildings are reflected in the river, which fills the bottom third of the painting. The surface of the water is painted with short, horizontal brushstrokes in azure blue for the buildings, and apricot, rose, and marigold orange for the sky’s reflection. A streak and smudge of olive-green paint on the water represents a person in a boat near the center of the painting. The artist signed and dated the work in the same olive color at the lower right: “Claude Monet 1903.”

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Claude Monet](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/claude-monet)

French, 1840–1926

Monet grew up in Le Havre, where Eugène Boudin encouraged him to paint outdoors. In Paris he met Renoir, Sisley and Bazille, and his Impression, Sunrise gave the Impressionist movement its name in 1874. He made a lifelong study of changing light, painting the Gare Saint-Lazare, haystacks, poplars and Rouen Cathedral in series. From 1883 he lived at Giverny, where he built the water garden that filled the last three decades of his work.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 63
- Real size: about 32 × 36 in (81 × 93 cm). The 24 × 36 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 20th century
- Movement: [Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/impressionism)
- Subjects: exterior, Civic Architecture, Time of Day, London, Houses of Parliament
- Colour: blue
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1516.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1516/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-houses-of-parliament-sunset-nga-46523).