Snowfall Clouds...Monet Winter

Snowfall Clouds
Departing Ocean Drive

along Ocean Drive in Kennebunkport, Maine
on December 18, 2019, painted January 6, 2020
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness
and permanence, on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press
rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, $300

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Claude Monet's 1895 Norway Winter

Monet painted twenty-nine snow scenes in Norway. Over his lifetime he painted over a hundred winter scenes, more than any other Impressionist.
 

1
Houses in the Snow, Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895

Claude Monet's stepson, Jacques Hoschede, married a Norwegian who lived in Oslo, then called Christiania. In February 1885 55-year-old Monet made the long trip by train and ferry to visit them. 

2
Houses in the Snow, Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 32" x 25", 1895

When Monet arrived in Oslo, he spent some time in search of painting subject matter. His stepson took Monet south of Oslo to the artist's colony village of Sandvika (or spelled Sandviken), which is on a fjord, and with a view of Mount Kolsaas. After painting a series of village landscapes, Monet painted three canvases of two distant houses in a landscape blanketed in white snow

3
Houses in the Snow, Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895

Monet ended up in a farmhouse nine miles west of Oslo that was occupied by other artists in or near the village of Sandvika.

4
Norwegian Landscape, Sandviken
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895

First, Monet painted scenes of the local fjord and the village, painting six of the village. He included the distinctive iron arch bridge. Two years before this trip he'd begun his landscaping project which included a Japanese arch bridge seen in many of his water lily paintings.
 

5 

Sandvika, Norway

 Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 36" x 29" (w x h), 1895
Art Institute of Chicago

He painted a series of paintings of Mount Kolsaas. The view of Mount Kolsaas reminded Monet of Japanese woodblock prints of Mount Fuji. He painted thirteen views of Mount Kolsaas. In Monet style, he painted plein air at different times of the day, thus in different light, and in different weather conditions.
 

6
Sandviken, Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895
Private Collection

Sandviken is the village beneath Mount Kolsaas, seen from the village.
Monet wrote, "This country is, undoubtedly, infinitely more beautiful without snow, or at least when there isn't so much of it."
 

7
Mount Kolsaas in Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895

The winter of 1895-1896 was quite harsh. Going out in an average daily high of -13°F, Monet painted plein air views of the surrounding area. Using shovels, he cut paths in the snow to reach his painting locations.

8
Mount Kolsaas in Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895

In a letter to Gustave Geffroy, his friend, Monet said that conditions were so cold in Norway that his beard froze. He wrote, "I painted part of the day today, while it was snowing continually: you would have laughed to see me entirely white, my beard covered in icy stalactites."
 

9
Mount Kolsaas in Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 39" x 25" (w x h), 1895
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

He completed the paintings and his visit in mid-March of 1895.

10
Mount Kolsaas in Norway
Claude Monet (1840-1926) French
Oil on canvas, 1895