La valle della Nervia

Early in 1884 Monet went south on his own to the Italian Riviera and settled for about three months in the little border town of Bordighera. The light there stunned him. He wrote to a friend that everything was superb, that he wanted to paint all of it, and that this landscape was a completely new experience for him. This is the valley of the Nervia, the river just over the French border, laid out in three broad bands: snow still on the Maritime Alps at the top, green foothills in the middle, and the village of Camporosso tucked into the warm foreground. He struggled with the colours, telling friends that the blues and pinks of the south were almost impossible to get right. He came home with around 40 canvases from the trip.