El Támesis bajo Westminster

Monet painted this in London in 1871, where he had gone to sit out the Franco-Prussian War and the upheaval of the Paris Commune. The city he found was brand new in places. The Houses of Parliament across the water had only just been completed, and on the right the Victoria Embankment was so freshly built that the men on the jetty are taking down the scaffolding used to raise it. Monet cared little for the stonework. He gave the towers more height than they really have and let the whole scene dissolve into the river fog he loved. Years later he told a dealer that without its fog London would not be a beautiful city.