Charing Cross Bridge - Caude Monet

Charing Cross Bridge - Claude Monet
Oil on Canvas
25 x 36 in


Claude Monet’s Charing Cross Bridge is an oil on canvas painting made in 1902 that can be found in the Art Gallery of Ontario along with other paintings from the same time period. This painting is normal sized, a rectangle that is 25 x 36 inches big. It appears to be glazed and a little shiny. The surface appears to be smooth, but bumpy at spots where there are occasional ticker dabs of paint. Charing Cross Bridge was painted using an impressionistic style.

Monet painted it according to the light source and the colours he saw. He painted this same view thirty-five times, each time with a different weather condition, time of day and season. It does not seem to be painted in the countryside, but rather in an urban area. There is a lot of fog in the painting so the viewer cannot see the details of the painting clearly. The foreground consists of a bridge that goes across the bottom half of the painting with a slight angle that makes it seem like the left side is further away than the right. There is also a row of buildings in the background but are hardly visible. Only the two taller parliament buildings at the right-hand side of the painting is painted darker and are more visible. The bridge is already very faint from the surrounding fog, but the buildings are even more faint. The bridge is already very faint from the surrounding fog, but the buildings are more faint than the bridge. Behind the buildings is the sky, with a sun on the right hand corner. At the bottom of the painting, it is filled with water that travels through the bridge and into the background where the buildings are located. The bridge appears to be bigger because it is closer to the viewer than the buildings in the background.