Claude-Oscar Monet, 'The Thames below Westminster', about 1871.
London, The National Gallery.

Charles-François Daubigny, 'St Paul's from the Surrey Side', 1873.
London, The National Gallery.

Travelling Companions: Monet and Daubigny

Claude-Oscar Monet: 'The Thames below Westminster'
Charles-François Daubigny: 'St Paul's from the Surrey Side'

The Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro: 27 September - 22 November 2003
Cecil Higgins Museum, Bedford: 29 November 2003 - 1 February 2004
The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent: 4 February - 25 April 2004

Supported by The John Ellerman Foundation

Travelling Companions is a series of National Gallery touring exhibitions that travels to three venues in the United Kingdom, making some of the nation's greatest paintings accessible outside London. The paintings are by different artists, juxtaposed in order to encourage the viewers to make comparisons and connections between them.

In 1870, Monet and Daubigny took refuge in London from the Franco-Prussian War, where they painted these two views of the Thames, both depicting famous London landmarks. Daubigny's view looks east from the wharves on the south bank across a crowded river towards Blackfriars Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral. Monet's painting looks west towards the newly-built Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge, and on the right is the clock tower housing Big Ben.

The two paintings, though related by subject, differ remarkably in style. Monet's quiet and restrained scene is matched by his handling of paint. The light ground shows through the paint layers of the thinly-worked sky and the bridge can be seen through the transparent paint of the boats on the far left. By contrast, Daubigny's busier scene is also more heavily worked. The numerous plumes of thick grey-white smoke appear to mingle with the heavy clouds of the thickly-painted sky. His painting evokes very much the industrial character of the city, while Monet has exploited the fog's ability to suppress detail, creating a stylized and poetic view of London.


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