Of the fourteen versions of this motif painted at Pourville in 1882, this painting is among the most interesting in terms of color refinement and execution.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Cabin of the Customs Watch
Artist:Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)
Date:1882
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:24 x 32 1/4 in. (61 x 81.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Julia B. Engel, 1984
Object Number:1984.341
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Claude Monet 82
?[Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1882–83; bought from the artist in April 1882; sold in 1883 to Petit]; ?[Georges Petit, Paris, from 1883]; ?Charles Leroux (until 1888; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 27–28, 1888, no. 55, as "Les Falaises, à Etretat," for Fr 1,250 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1888; sold to Andrews]; William Loring Andrews, New York (from 1888); S. P. Avery Jr., New York (until 1892; sold on January 4, for Fr 3,640, to Boussod, Valadon); [Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Paris, 1892; stock no. 21973; sold on February 26, for Fr 6,500 to Seney]; George I. Seney, New York (1892–d. 1893; his sale, American Art Association, New York, February 7–10, 1894, no. 275, as "Above the Sea," for $775, to Durand-Ruel and Boussod, Valadon); [Durand-Ruel and Boussod, Valadon, New York, 1894–95; Boussod, Valadon, stock no. 23329, sold their share on January 21, 1895 to Durand-Ruel]; Arthur A. Carey, Cambridge, Mass. (1895–at least 1905); Mrs. Arthur A. Carey, Cambridge, Mass. (in 1911); Annie Payson Call, ?Boston (in 1927); [Knoedler, New York]; William Appleton Coolidge, ?Boston; private collection, USA (from about 1968); Julia B. Engel, New York (until d. 1984)
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition internationale de peinture: Quatrième année," May 15–?, 1885, no. 69 (as "Maison de pêcheur à Varengeville," possibly this picture).
Saint Louis Exposition and Music Hall Association. "Eleventh Annual Exhibition," 1894, no. 278 [see Wildenstein 1996].
New York. Durand-Ruel. "Monet," January 12–27, 1895, no. 13 [see Wildenstein 1996].
Boston. St. Botolph's Club. "Monet," February 1895, no. 8 [see Wildenstein 1996].
Boston. Copley Hall. "Loan Collection of Paintings by Claude Monet and Eleven Sculptures by Auguste Rodin," March 1905, no. 40 (as "Land and Sea," lent by Arthur A. Carey, Esq.).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Paintings by Claude Monet," August(?) 1911, no. 42 (as "La maison des douaniers à Varangeville [sic]," lent by Mrs. Arthur A. Carey).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Claude Monet: Memorial Exhibition," January 1927, no. 38 (as "Above the Sea," lent by Miss Annie Payson Call).
G. Dargenty. "Exposition internationale de peinture." Courrier de l'art (May 29, 1885), p. 264, possibly this picture [see Ref. Wildenstein 1979].
Arsène Alexandre. "Claude Monet, his Career and Work." The Studio 43 (March 1908), ill. p. 94.
Gustave Geffroy. Claude Monet: Sa vie, son temps, son œuvre. Paris, 1922, p. 108 [second ed., Paris, 1924, p. 170], lists the ten works by Monet shown at Exh. Paris 1885, including a Fisherman's House at Varengeville, which Wildenstein [see Ref. 1979] suggests may be this work.
Marthe de Fels. La Vie de Claude Monet. Paris, 1929, p. 237.
John Rewald. "Théo van Gogh, Goupil, and the Impressionists." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 81 (January 1973), appendix I, as "Marine, Falaise".
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 3, 1887–1898: Peintures. Paris, 1979, p. 66 n. 1278, p. 73 n. 1341.
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 2, 1882–1886: Peintures. Lausanne, 1979, pp. 6, 38 n. 392, pp. 68–69, no. 731, ill.
Sylvie Gache inHommage à Claude Monet (1840–1926). Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1980, p. 306, states that the customs cabin depicted is located on the falaise of the Petit-Ailly near Varengeville.
Frances Weitzenhoffer. "The Earliest American Collectors of Monet." Aspects of Monet. Ed. John Rewald and Frances Weitzenhoffer. New York, 1984, p. 91 n. 35, states that William Loring Andrews bought it from Durand-Ruel in 1888.
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 4, 1899–1926: Peintures. Lausanne, 1985, p. 44 n. 412.
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Catalogue raisonné. Vol. 5, Supplément aux peintures; dessins, pastels, index. Lausanne, 1991, p. 39, no. 731.
Virginia Spate. Claude Monet: Life and Work. New York, 1992, p. 153.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 475, ill.
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet. Vol. 2, Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis: Nos. 1–968. 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 273, no. 731, ill. (color).
Joseph Baillio and Cora Michael inClaude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, pp. 163–64.
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