The Bridge at Bougival

The bridge in this picture was new. It opened in November 1858, carrying the road over the Seine between Bougival and the island of Croissy, west of Paris. In 1869 Monet was living a short walk away, in the hamlet of Saint-Michel, with his companion Camille Doncieux and their small son Jean, and he set up his easel at the foot of the bridge.

That spot had a reputation. On Sunday evenings the boating crowd came there for an open-air dance, with a wooden shed for a bar and the square decorated with trellises and Chinese lanterns. Monet painted it by day, with a woman and a child walking beside the railing, autumn trees, and bands of sun and shadow across the road. The old bridge has since disappeared, and the road bridge at Bougival today dates from 1964. The Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire, bought the canvas in 1949, and it is lent so often that it spent most of 2016 on tour.