Felix Nadar, Paris
Private Collection, France
Thence by descent to the present owner

Executed on buff-coloured wove paper, not laid down, attached to the overmount along all four edges. There is some glue residue running along the edges of the reverse of the sheet, probably due to the mounting process. Apart from some time staining, mainly towards the edges on the reverse, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall more subtle and less red though the blues are brighter in the original.
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Claude Monet's skill as a draughtsman is relatively unknown, and pastels are especially rare in his œuvre. The majority of his work in this medium is dedicated to recording the landscapes of his beloved Normandy, where he spent much of his youth. As he began tꦺo develop as a painter, it was to Normandy that he returned, joining his fellow artists Boudin, Sisley, Jongkind and Daubigny at the Ferme Saint-Simeon near Honfleur. In the early 1880s, Monet visited Jeufosse, situated along the Seine between Rouen and Paris, where he painted several views of the idyllic landscape (fig. 1). The present work captures a view upstream of the trees of the Ile de la Merville and the Ile de la Flotte, on the left, possibly from the tow path on the left bank. In a rather unusual turn, Monet has chosen to include a number of barges on the right of the com꧂position, which afford an intriguing glance into pastoral life at this time of unparalleled artistic change.  

The intimate and informal nature of this work makes it a perfect example of a true plein air  work, the pastel medium being ideally suited to capturing the artist's impression of the scene before him. Most of Monet's pastels appear to date from the early years of his career, at a time when Impressionism was beginning to flourish. The strength of hue is particularly striking in this work, with the brooding sky and vivid green of the surrounding trees reflected in the gently undulating surface of the water. Paysage, bord de la Seine, près de Jeufosse is imbued with great variety of surface depth and texture, conveying the powerful immediacy of the artist's hand. Indeed, Monet displays a great mastery in his handlin﷽g of pastel in this work, allowing the viewer a glimpse of his extraordinary sense of luminosity, haಞrmony and colour.

Fig. 1, Claude Monet, Le bras de Jeufosse, effet de fin d'apres midi, 1884, oil on canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (on loan from the Public Enterprise Bureau, Gunma Prefectural Government)