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Le Bassin d' Argenteuil

Artwork Tombstone
ArtistClaude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
TitleLe Bassin d' Argenteuil
Date1874
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsStretcher: 21 3/4 × 25 7/8 in. (55.2 × 65.7 cm)
Framed: 32 7/8 × 36 3/4 × 4 1/2 in. (83.5 × 93.3 × 11.4 cm)
Credit LineEskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number76.15
This artwork is currently on view.
A view of a river from above with a riverbank on the left side of the painting and sailboats coming into and leaving the port on the right side. In the distant background, there are factory buildings and a tall smoke stack. The composition is rendered in small, loose strokes of paint and the sky blurs with the river at the horizon line.

A view of a river from above with a riverbank on the left side of the painting and sailboats coming into and leaving the port on the right side. In the distant background, there are factory buildings and a tall smoke stack. The composition is rendered in small, loose strokes of paint and the sky blurs with the river at the horizon line.

Many of the Impressionists congregated at the small town of Argenteuil near Paris to paint the River Seine. The town was popular during the summer with urban day-trippers who enjoyed sailing on the river—as the large number of sailboats in this painting indicates. Claude Monet, who lived in Argenteuil from 1871 to 1878, constructed a bateau-atelier, or “boat studio,” in order to achieve a more intimate vantage point from which to paint the river; his boat is visible in the lower-right corner of the painting. In this work, painted from a bridge, Monet conveyed atmospheric effects through loose brushwork and the suppression of details.

Additional Titles
Exhibition TitleThe Port of Argenteuil (Le Bassin d'Argenteuil)

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Le Bassin d' Argenteuil | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=76.15