San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk

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San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk: Claude Monet

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Claude Monet Oil Painting - San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk

Keywords: San, Giorgio, Maggiore, Dusk

Work Overview: San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk
Claude Monet
Date: 1908
Style: Impressionism
Genre: cityscape
Media: oil, canvas
Dimensions: 65.2 x 92.4 cm
Location: National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK

Saint-Georges majeur au crépuscule (Eng: Dusk in Venice, San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight[1] or Sunset in Venice) refers to an Impressionist painting by Claude Monet, which exists in more than one version. Monet painted this subject as part of a series of views of the monastery-island of San Giorgio Maggiore. These were begun in 1908 when the 68-year-old artist made his only visit to Venice.

One version of San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk was acquired in Paris by the Welsh art collector Gwendoline Davies. She bequeathed it to the Art Gallery (now National Museum Cardiff) in Cardiff, Wales. The painting is normally on display there.

San Giorgio Maggiore al Crepuscolo is approximately two-by-three feet and painted in oil on canvas. It depicts mysterious buildings that seem to magically appear from the surrounding landscape, they almost seem to float in the background. The forms are gently inserted, though not enough to disguise their identity. The painting focuses on the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore with its bell tower rising to the top of the painting. To the right are the faintly visible domes of Santa Maria della Salute and the mouth of the Grand Canal.

The painting became familiar in 1999 after its appearance in John McTiernan’s heist film The Thomas Crown Affair. In the film the picture is taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In fact, the Metropolitan does not own the painting, although they have another of Monet's Venetian scenes The Doge's Palace Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore.

A Venetian painting by Monet was seized in July of 2016 by Swiss officials on behalf of U.S. authorities. It was described as being a painting of San Giorgio Maggiore. The owner, Jho Low, embezzled funds from 1Malaysia Development BHD., a government investment fund. He had purchased the painting for $35 million.

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A view of the monastery island of San Giorgio, painted from the south-eastern end of Venice. On the right are faintly visible the dome of Santa Maria Salute and the mouth of the Grand Canal. Every evening in late November 1908, Monet and his wife made gondola trips to enjoy 'these splendid sunsets which are unique in the world'. This work was purchased by Gwendoline Davies in 1912, directly from Monet's exhibition of his Venetian Scenes in Paris.

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Claude Monet painted View of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice by Twilight, in 1908. Monet traveled throughout his life, painting in The Netherlands, England, and all over France. In 1908, he left his home in Giverny and spent three months in Venice where he painted the sea, canals, and buildings on 37 canvases.

For Monet, this trip was an attempt to rejuvenate his creativity and get out of a bout of depression. Unsure if he would like Venice, he was hesitant to go. However, like most people, once he arrived, he saw the beauty it had stating “It is too beautiful to be painted!”

It was during that trip that Monet painted his view of the island San Giorgio Maggiore and its church. Upon arriving in Venice, he wrote “"Although I am enthusiastic about Venice, and though I've started a few canvases, I'm afraid I will only bring back beginnings that will be nothing else but souvenirs for me." Even though he was painting, it was a trip to spend time with his wife, Alice, and their friends in Italy. By this time, Monet was 68, and soon he would develop cataracts. The room the couple stayed in had electric lights, and Alice wrote home about how wonderful it was that Monet could see his paintings. Soon after, they would have electricity installed at their home in Giverny.

In View of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice by Twilight, Monet paints the island from across the harbor. On this trip, Monet and his wife fell in love with the Mediterranean sunsets. The painting has a warm sky, starting blue at the top, working its way from orange, to yellow, to a deep red. The colorful sky is reflected in the water below dancing in the shallow waves of the sea. The church and its bell tower are shown silhouetted in dark blues and violets highlighted in dark reds as the water shines light back into the churches shadows. At this point in his career, he was still painting outdoors but often from a porch or looking through an open window - as was the case in the Rouen Cathedral and Parliament series. Many of the paintings from Venice were started in this same manner and then finished in his studio in Giverny. View of San Giorgio was started in 1908, the date on the painting, but not finished until 1912.

Like many of his series paintings, View of San Giorgio is about light. The difference between the goal of those paintings, the Parliament Series, Haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, and View of San Giorgio lies within the trip itself. While those previous paintings were studies with the goal of exploring light, his paintings in Venice were, as he said, souvenirs. Or, at least, paintings both celebrating the colors displayed in Italian light and reminders of a magical city. Paintings like View of San Giorgio are interesting in that they show the subject, the island and its church, but they also show the path towards abstraction.

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