In an innovative approach, Richard Thomson considers Claude Monet’s paintings of buildings in their environment, offering a reappraisal of an artist more often associated with landscapes, seascapes, and gardens. Buildings fulfilled various roles in Monet’s canvases; some are chiefly compositional devices while others throw into sharp contrast the forms of man-made construction against the irregularity of nature, or suggest the absent presence of humans. The theme was both central and consistent over five decades of his 60-year career.

Written by a renowned expert on Impressionism, this book covers Monet’s representations of historical buildings, inner cities, beach resorts, railway bridges and stations, suburban housing, and busy harbors—subjects spanning northern France, the Mediterranean, and the cities of Rouen, London, and Venice. In addition to 75 great paintings by Monet, this thematic, picture-led book includes a wealth of comparative material, such as postcards, posters, original travel photography, and rarely seen aerial photography that sets Monet’s work firmly in its historical, cultural, and social framework.