The Sea at Amsterdam 1874

Claude Monet painted this scene of The Sea at Amsterdam using oil on canvas, but the exact date is not known. Monet, a French painter, is associated with the group of artists who broke from academic tradition to found the Impressionist movement. The style took hold in France in the 1860s. Rejecting the detailed realism and historical or mythological subject matter favored by the French Academy, the Impressionists took everyday life as their subject and the changing qualities of light as their inspiration. Monet’s paintings offer an especially radical departure from the French Academy in that they were painted ‘en plein air’ and appear unfinished. What was once a sketch is now the final art work. The Sea at Amsterdam reflects a modernizing economy with its busy industrial port. To truly understand this work, it would be helpful to know the date of its creation and its exhibition history. That information can tell us whether the painting was a critical success in its own time and how tastes have changed since then.