Seinearm bei Giverny

By 1897 Monet had been living at Giverny for over a decade, and he had grown almost methodical about how he worked. For this series, the Mornings on the Seine, he rose before dawn and had himself rowed out to a boat he had fitted up as a floating studio, moored in a quiet arm of the river near his house. He would begin around half past three, catching the water and the trees while the mist still hung over them and the light had barely any colour in it. As the sun rose he moved from one canvas to the next, following the light from minute to minute. The result is nearly a study in a single blue, the banks and their reflections dissolving into one another before the day fully arrives.