Claude Monet - Regattas at Argenteuil

Regattas at Argenteuil (Régates à Argenteuil), around 1872 - Claude Monet, oil on canvas. Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926) was a French Impressionist painter. Monet began painting Argenteuil's boating life soon after moving there in 1871. The popular regattas gave him an ideal modern subject because sails, wind and reflections altered the view from moment to moment. In this early version, white sails rise above a river built from brisk patches of blue and broken mirrored shapes. The painting avoids detailed description of individual boats. Instead, Monet uses the regatta to study movement, light and colour on water, while also recording the new leisure culture developing along the suburban Seine.