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A sunlit hillside landscape overlooking the sea

Thickly textured areas of pale green and light tan depict a sunlit hillside which occupies the left, center and much of the lower half of the scene. At lower center, darker greens and purples indicate shade in a ravine leading downward. Just beyond the hillside, at upper center, the rooftop of a small house is visible, also bathed in bright sunlight. At upper right, the land drops off sharply, and bright blue and turquoise ocean fills the distance, with a strip of pale blue sky visible at top.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1972.31
People
Claude Monet, French (Paris, France 1840 - 1926 Giverny, France)
Title
Gorge of the Petit Ailly, Varengeville
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Gorge du Petit-Ailly (Varengeville)/ House of the Customs Officer, Varengeville
Former Title: La Cabane du Douanier
Former Title: La Gorge de Varengeville
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1897
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228061

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2700, European and American Art, 19th century, Impressionism and the Late Nineteenth Century
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
65.7 x 92.7 cm (25 7/8 x 36 1/2 in.)
framed: 83.5 x 110.5 x 6.7 cm (32 7/8 x 43 1/2 x 2 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l.: Claude Monet 97
  • inscription: vertical stretcher bar, black chalk: c47
  • incipit: vertical stretcher bar, black chalk: ET116
  • inscription: left stretcher bar, bottom, black chalk: DR [likely for Durand-Ruel]
  • inscription: right strecher bar, bottom, black ink: [illeg.] 62
  • label: middle stretcher bar: [remnants of labels and adhesive]
  • inscription: middle stetcher bar, left: Ph 1127 [Durand-Ruel photo number]
  • inscription: middle stretcher bar, right: Ph 1127 [double underline] [Durand-Ruel photo number]
  • stamp: top right stretcher bar: Douanes Francaises Pa... [partially illegible] [round]
  • stamp: middle stretcher bar, right: Douanes Francaises Pa... [partially illegible] [round]
  • stamp: verso top right on canvas: Douanes Francaises Pa... [partially illegible] [round]
  • stamp: verso, top right on canvas: Douanes Francaises Pa... [partially illegible] [round]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Claude Monet, (1897-1898), sold; to [Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York, November 1898], sold; to unknown collector, Paris, 1946 [1]. Mr. W. Ward and Mrs. Ella Milbank Foshay, New York, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1972.

Notes:
[1] Durand-Ruel has no record to whom it was sold to but the painting was in their possession as stock no. 4839 between 1898 and 1946.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Ella Milbank Foshay
Accession Year
1972
Object Number
1972.31
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Gustave Geffroy, Claude Monet, sa vie et son oeuvre, G. Crès et Cie (Paris, France, 1924), vol. II, pp. 93-94
  • Steven Z. Levine, "Monet's 'Cabane du Douanier' ", Fogg Art Museum Annual Report 1971-1972, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1973), pp. 32-44, repr. p. 33
  • [Unidentified article], Fogg Art Museum Newsletter, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, March 1973), vol. X, no. 3, repr.
  • Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et Catalogue Raisonné, La Bibliothèque des Arts (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1974 - 1991), p. 84, vol. III, no. 1452
  • James N. Carpenter, Color in Art: A Tribute to Arthur Pope, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1974), pp. 81-82, cat. 40, ill.
  • Paul Hayes Tucker, Monet in the 90's: the Series Paintings, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Yale University Press (Boston, MA and New Haven, CT, 1989), repr. in color, plate 73, p. 200; catalogue no. 68, p. 299
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 121, repr. as no. 402
  • Robert L. Herbert, Monet on the Normandy Coast, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1994), pp. 54-56
  • Steven Z. Levine, Monet, Narcissus, and Self-Reflection: the Modernist Myth of the Self, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL and London, England, 1994), p. 173; repr. in b/w fig. 93
  • Norio Shimada and Keiko Sakagami, Claude Monet 1858-1880, exh. cat., Toppan Tanc (Japan, 2001), p. 98. repr. in color as fig. 226
  • Richard R. Brettell, Monet in Normandy, exh. cat., Rizzoli (New York, NY, 2006), no. 52, pp. 156-157, repr. in color
  • Claude Monet 1840-1926, exh. cat., Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Musée d'Orsay (Paris, 2010), cat. no. 129, repr., p. 261, checklist p. 369
  • Marco Goldin, Van Gogh and Gauguin's Journey: Variations on a Theme, exh. cat., Linea d'Ombra (Treviso, Italy, 2011), repr. p. 158
  • Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, auct. cat., Christie's, New York (November 5, 2013), repr. p. 85 as fig. 2 (with incorrect caption)
  • Jane Sirén, The Impressionist Revolution and the Advent of Abstract Art, exh. cat., Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, 2015), pp. 51-52, fig. 27
  • Ulf Küster, Claude Monet: Ich will das Unmögliche, Hatje Cantz (Berlin, 2017), pp. 59-60, repr. p. 59 as fig. 14
  • Monet, Fondation Beyeler (Basel, 2017), p. 34, repr.
  • Ulf Küster, ed., Monet: Light, Shadow, and Reflection, exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler (Basel, 2017), cat. no. 85, repr. p. 85
  • Simon Kelly and Maite van Dijk, ed., Millet and Modern Art from Van Gogh to Dalí, exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum (Amsterdam/Saint Louis, 2019), pp. 82, 203, pl. 72
  • Simon Kelly and Maite van Dijk, ed., Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí; alternate title: Jean-François Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art, exh. cat., Thoth Publishers (Bussum, 2019), pp.80-84, p. 13, repr. p. 81, no. 71, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Unidentified Exhibition, Galerie Georges Petit, 1898, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 01/01/1898 - 12/31/1898
  • Oeuvres Importantes de Monet, Pissarro, Renoir et Sisley, Durand-Ruel Paris, Paris, 01/01/1925 - 12/31/1925
  • Monet, Paul Rosenberg Gallery, Paris, Paris, 04/02/1936 - 04/30/1936
  • Monet, Arthur Tooth & Sons, Ltd., London, 04/13/1939 - 05/06/1939
  • Color in Art: A Tribute to Arthur Pope, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/25/1974 - 06/16/1974
  • Monet in the '90s: The Series Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 02/07/1990 - 04/29/1990; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 05/19/1990 - 08/12/1990; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 09/07/1990 - 12/09/1990
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • Monet in Normandy, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, 06/17/2006 - 09/17/2006; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 10/15/2006 - 01/14/2007; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 02/18/2007 - 05/28/2007
  • Claude Monet 1840-1926, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 09/22/2010 - 01/24/2011
  • 32Q: 2700 Impressionism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/30/2016 - 10/11/2016; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/27/2018 - 02/07/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/18/2021 - 01/01/2050
  • Monet and the Impressionist Revolution, 1860-1910, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 11/14/2015 - 03/20/2016
  • Monet: Light, Shadow, and Reflection , Fondation Beyeler, Riehen / Basel, 01/22/2017 - 05/28/2017
  • Millet and Modern Art from Van Gogh to Dali, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 02/16/2020 - 05/17/2020

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu