Claude Monet painted the Rouen Cathedral at the End of the Day (Sunlight Effect) (1893-94) so the bright sunlight on the facade of the cathedral made the surface dissolve into patterns of light and color. Claude Monet used bleached-out hues to capture the almost blinding effect.
In his letters home he described the effort it took to keep working so as to capture an effect before the light changed. The letters also reveal that he missed his wife Alice and Giverny but that his subject required intense and constant attention.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Debra N. Mancoff is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American painting, including Publication International, Ltd.'s, Impressionism and Van Gogh. Other titles include Sunflowers, Monet's Garden in Art, Van Gogh: Fields and Flowers, and Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives. Ms. Mancoff is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library.