MASP

Monet was introduced to the painting of seascapes in the open air by Eugène Boudin (1824–1898). He then approached a group of young artists, enthusiastic about the painting of the Barbizon School as well as the work of Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Gustave Courbet (1819–1877). His landscapes from the 1860s evince how Monet had begun to experiment with the representation of reflections of light on water, which led him to formulate a new relation between painting and nature, from which impressionism derived. In fact, the name of the impressionist group came from the title of a painting by Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1872), presented at the group’s first show in 1874. The Canoe on the Epte clearly manifests the artist’s interest in the effects of light on the water’s surface. The thick layer of paint is composed of pure colors that blend when seen from a distance. The nearness of the current, occupying the entire lower part of the painting, shows that Monet was focusing not only on the effects of the reflections of the plant life, but also on the river’s depth. The out-of-focus treatment given to the women, along with the framing of the canoe—cut at the border of the canvas—recalls the language of photography, a decisive influence for the painter. The framing of the scene also refers to the Japanese prints that were circulating in France at that time.

— MASP Curatorial Team, 2015

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Between 1887 and 1890, Monet concerned himself with portraying scenes from the River Epte, which bathed his property in Giverny. The sisters Suzanne and Blanche Hoschedé posed for this series of pictures, their late father being banker Ernest Hoschedé, a patron of the arts and collector of Monet, and their mother, Alice, who became Monet’s second wife. This series began with La barque Rose (whereabouts unknown) and also worthy of mention are the canvases Barque à Giverny (Musée d’Orsay) and En Barque (Tokyo, National Western Art Museum). The Masp picture, which also has a preparatory study, was mentioned by the artist himself in a letter to critic and friend Geffroy, dated June 22nd, 1890: “I am again vexed by things that are impossible to do: water with undulating vegetation on the bottom.” In fact one of the more singular characteristics of The Canoe on the Epte in the Monet context is the proximity of the water, which assumes at the lower part of the composition an almost tactile reality, as if the painter for once did not want to depict the luminous reflections of its surface, but its depth. Although it belongs to a series, the Masp work is in this particular, a unique case. Monet here announces materiality, and it is necessary to remember that this new visual dimension of water will only be obtained again over thirty years later in his paintings of the 1918-1924 period. His friendship with photographer Nadar and his genuine interest in photography explain the framing of the composition as well as the out-of-focus effect produced by the movement of the boat on the water to be seen in the Hoschedé sisters (Camesasca). In addition, a possible source of The Masp composition, as has been detected, is the Harunobu engraving, titled Woman Collecting Lotus Flowers.

— Unknown authorship, 1998

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