Fishing boats leaving the harbor, Le Havre

1874 was the year a group of independent painters, Monet among them, mounted the show in Paris that a mocking critic would christen Impressionist. Its most talked-about canvas, Monet's hazy Impression, Sunrise, looked out over the harbour at Le Havre, the Channel port where he had grown up. This picture works the same waterfront. Fishing boats push out past the jetties under a low, overcast sky, their sails and the choppy water caught in quick, broken strokes. The palette stays cool, all blues and greys and off-whites, the damp Normandy weather Monet knew from childhood. He came back to Le Havre and its boats again and again. This one has since passed into a private collection.