Monet spent the summer of 1867 at Sainte-Adresse, a well-to-do suburb of Le Havre on the Normandy coast. On June 25, he reported that he had about twenty pictures under way, noting, "Among the seascapes, I am doing the regattas of Le Havre with many figures on the beach and the outer harbor covered with small sails." This sunny regatta, watched at high tide by well-dressed bourgeois, seems to have been conceived as a pair with The Beach at Sainte-Adresse (Art Institute of Chicago), an overcast scene at low tide, showing fishing boats hauled onto the beach, peopled with sailors and workers.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Regatta at Sainte-Adresse
Artist:Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)
Date:1867
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:29 5/8 x 40 in. (75.2 x 101.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of William Church Osborn, 1951
Accession Number:51.30.4
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Claude Monet
?Henri Hecht, Paris (1873; bought in January for Fr 500 from the artist); ?sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 5, 1884, no. 25, as "Sainte-Adresse"; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, about 1888–91, sold on August 20, 1891 to Widener]; P. A. B. Widener, Ashbourne, near Philadelphia (1891–1907; sold on February 27, 1907 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1907]; William Church Osborn, New York (1907–d. 1951)
Galerie de la société des amis des arts de Bordeaux. "Salon des amis des arts de Bordeaux," 1868, no. 449 (as "Les régates du Havre," possibly this picture) [see Wildenstein 1996, vol. 2].
London. Durand-Ruel. "Society of French Artists: Eighth Exhibition," Spring 1874, no. 142 (as "Ste Adresse near Havre," possibly this picture).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings," May 3–September 15, 1921, no. 76 (as "Plage de Sainte Adresse," lent by William Church Osborn).
New York. Durand-Ruel. "Loan Exhibition of French Masterpieces of the Late XIX Century," March 20–April 10, 1928, no. 12 (as "Ste. Adresse," lent anonymously).
New York. Durand-Ruel. "Exhibition of Masterpieces by Claude Monet Commemorating the Hundred and Thirtieth Anniversary of the House of Durand-Ruel 1803-1933," March 20–April 15, 1933, no. 12 (as "La plage de Ste. Adresse," 1869, lent by a private collection).
San Francisco. Palace of Fine Arts. "Golden Gate International Exposition," May 25–September 29, 1940, no. 284 (lent by William Church Osborn).
New York. Paul Rosenberg & Co. "Great French Masters of the Nineteenth Century: Corot to Van Gogh," May 4–29, 1942, no. 5 (as "Plage de Sainte Adresse," lent by Mr. and Mrs. W[illia]m. Church Osborn).
New York. Wildenstein. "A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet for the Benefit of the Children of Giverny," April 11–May 12, 1945, no. 4 (as "La Plage de Sainte Adresse," about 1865, lent by William Church Osborn).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Painter's Light," October 5–November 10, 1971, no. 29.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Impressionist Epoch," December 12, 1974–February 10, 1975, not in catalogue.
Paris. Grand Palais. "Hommage à Claude Monet (1840-1926)," February 8–May 5, 1980, no. 16 (as "Les régates à Sainte-Adresse").
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869," April 19–August 8, 1994, no. 135.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Origins of Impressionism," September 27, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 135.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Claude Monet, 1840–1926," July 22–November 26, 1995, no. 13.
Glasgow. McLellan Galleries. "The Birth of Impressionism: From Constable to Monet," May 23–September 7, 1997, unnumbered cat.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum. "Claude Monet," November 26, 2001–February 10, 2002, no. 4 (as "Les Régates à Saint-Adresse" [sic]).
St. Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. "Claude Monet," March 1–May 15, 2002, no. 4.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Monet in Normandy," June 17–September 17, 2006, no. 4.
Raleigh. North Carolina Museum of Art. "Monet in Normandy," October 15, 2006–January 14, 2007, no. 4.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Monet in Normandy," February 18–May 20, 2007, no. 4.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Impressionists by the Sea," July 7–September 30, 2007, no. 33.
Washington. Phillips Collection. "Impressionists by the Sea," October 20, 2007–January 13, 2008, no. 33.
Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. "Impressionists by the Sea," February 9–May 11, 2008, no. 33.
Kansas City, Mo. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "Impressionist France: Visions of Nation from Le Gray to Monet," October 19, 2013–February 9, 2014, no. 109.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Impressionist France: Visions of Nation from Le Gray to Monet," March 16–July 6, 2014, no. 109.
Claude Monet. Letter to Frédéric Bazille. June 25, 1867 [published in Gaston Poulain, "Bazille et ses amis," Paris, 1932, p. 92].
Times (April 27, 1874) [reprinted in Kate Flint, ed., "Impressionists in England: The Critical Reception," London, 1984, p. 35].
Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Private Collection of P. A. B. Widener, Ashbourne, near Philadelphia. [Paris], 1885–1900, vol. 1, p. 84, mistakenly describes it in reverse.
Théodore Duret. "Claude Monet und der Impressionismus." Kunst und Künstler 2 (March 1904), p. 243, ill. [see Ref. Wildenstein 1974].
Emil Waldmann. "Französische Bilder in amerikanischem Privatbesitz II." Kunst und Künstler 9 (December 1910), ill. p. 140.
Gustave Geffroy. "Claude Monet." L'art et les artistes, n.s., 2 (October 1920–February 1921), ill. p. 61.
André Fontainas and Louis Vauxcelles. Histoire générale de l'art français de la Révolution à nos jours. Vol. 1, Paris, 1922, ill. p. 132.
Louis Vauxcelles. "Claude Monet." L'amour de l'art 3 (August 1922), ill. p. 232.
Camille Mauclair. Claude Monet. London, [1925], p. 42, pl. 8 [French ed., Paris, 1924, p. 36, pl. 8].
François Fosca. Claude Monet. Paris, 1927, ill. opp. p. 60.
Georges Grappe. "Claude Monet." L'art vivant 3 (January 1, 1927), ill. p. 7.
Marthe de Fels. La Vie de Claude Monet. Paris, 1929, p. 237.
Ralph Flint. "Monet Anniversary Exhibition." Art News (March 18, 1933), p. 5, ill. p. 3, dates it 1869.
George Besson. Claude Monet (1840–1926). Paris, [194–], pl. 18.
Great French Masters of the Nineteenth Century: Corot to Van Gogh. Exh. cat., Paul Rosenberg & Co. New York, 1942, pp. 18–19, no. 5, ill., dates it 1871.
Maurice Malingue. Claude Monet. Monaco, 1943, pp. 23, 145, pl. 44, dates it 1866; identifies the standing person with the cane as Monet's father.
John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. New York, 1946, p. 156, prints part of a letter from Monet to Bazille that mentions it.
Oscar Reuterswärd. Monet. Stockholm, 1948, p. 281.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniatures, French Impressionists: Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Boudin. Vol. 27, Album 51, New York, 1951, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Theodore Rousseau Jr. "Reports of the Departments: Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 11 (Summer 1952), pp. 32–33, ill.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 69.
Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), ill. p. 53.
Charles Merrill Mount. Monet, a biography. New York, 1966, pp. 144, 407, claims that Monet used his father and aunt for some of the figures on the beach.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 125–26, ill.
Joel Isaacson. "The Early Paintings of Claude Monet." PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1967, pp. xii, 183–85, 203, 243, pl. 63.
Margaretta M. Salinger. "Windows Open to Nature." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (Summer 1968), unpaginated, ill.
Douglas Cooper. "The Monets in the Metropolitan Museum." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 281, 285–86, 302–3, 305, fig. 5.
Kermit Swiler Champa. Studies in Early Impressionism. New Haven, 1973, pp. 19–20, fig. 25, discusses the composition and handling in relation to the other version at the Art Institute of Chicago (W92); dates both works to autumn 1867.
John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. 4th rev. ed. New York, 1973, pp. 179–80, prints part of a letter from Monet to Bazille that mentions it.
Carl R. Baldwin. The Impressionist Epoch. Exh. brochure, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [New York], 1974, p. 15.
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 1, 1840–1881: Peintures. Lausanne, 1974, pp. 38, 47, 162–63, no. 91, ill., dates it June 1867 in accordance with a letter of that date from Monet to Bazille describing this composition; tentatively adds to the early provenance of the work; identifies Monet's father as one of the figures on the beach.
Margaretta Salinger in "The Price Was Not Too High." The Chase, the Capture: Collecting at the Metropolitan. New York, 1975, p. 204.
Alice Bellony-Rewald. The Lost World of the Impressionists. London, 1976, p. 62.
Anne Distel. Hommage à Claude Monet (1840–1926). Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1980, pp. 80–82, no. 16, ill., dates it about 1867; includes it in the 1874 London exhibition.
Paul Hayes Tucker. Monet at Argenteuil. New Haven, 1982, p. 92, fig. 62.
Charles S. Moffett inManet, 1832–1883. Ed. Françoise Cachin and Charles S. Moffett. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, p. 67 [French ed., Paris].
Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge. Monet. New York, 1983, p. 289, ill. p. 34 (color).
Anne Distel. "Albert Hecht, collectionneur (1842–1889)." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, année 1981, (1983), p. 279.
Richard Shiff. Cézanne and the End of Impressionism. Chicago, 1984, pp. 108–10, fig. 20.
Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 10, 108–9, 251, ill. (color).
John House inClaude Monet: Painter of Light. Exh. cat., Auckland City Art Gallery. Auckland, New Zealand, 1985, p. 12, fig. 4.
Shunsuke Kijima. Monet. Tokyo, 1985, unpaginated, fig. 5 (color).
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, pp. 8, 30–31, colorpl. 15.
Richard R. Brettell. French Impressionists. Chicago, 1987, p. 11, compares it to the other depiction of this beach (Art Institute of Chicago) of the same size and painted in the same year, stating that "although there is no documentary evidence that they were intended as a pair, they both seem to contrast the modern bourgeois world of suburban Sainte-Adresse and the traditional working world of the fishing village from which it had evolved".
Douglas Skeggs. River of Light: Monet's Impressions of the Seine. New York, 1987, pp. 37–38, ill. (color).
Robert L. Herbert. Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society. New Haven, 1988, pp. 284, 290, colorpl. 294.
Richard Kendall, ed. Monet by Himself. London, 1989, ill. p. 42 (color).
Karin Sagner-Düchting. Claude Monet, 1840–1926: Ein Fest für die Augen. Cologne, 1990, pp. 37–38, ill. (color).
Michael F. Zimmermann. Seurat and the Art Theory of His Time. Antwerp, 1991, p. 398, colorpl. 543.
Gary Tinterow and Henri Loyrette. Origins of Impressionism. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1994, pp. 296, 432–33, no. 135, ill., states that this painting and "The Beach at Sainte-Adresse" (Art Institute of Chicago) were conceived as a pair, dating both works to 1867; notes that both works are identical in size, and that the point of view differs only by a few meters.
Gary Tinterow in Gary Tinterow and Henri Loyrette. Origins of Impressionism. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1994, pp. 66, 296, 432–33, no. 135, ill. p. 432 and fig. 87 (color) [French ed., "Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869," Paris], states that this painting and "The Beach at Sainte-Adresse" (Art Institute of Chicago) were conceived as a pair, dating both works to 1867; notes that both works are identical in size, and that the point of view differs only by a few meters.
John House. "Paris and New York: Origins of Impressionism." Burlington Magazine 136 (October 1994), p. 722, fig. 79.
Robert L. Herbert. Monet on the Normandy Coast: Tourism and Painting, 1867–1886. New Haven, 1994, pp. 11, 13, 15–16, figs. 14, 36 (color, overall and detail).
Charles F. Stuckey. Claude Monet, 1840–1926. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1995, p. 35, no. 13, ill. (color).
Paul Hayes Tucker. Claude Monet: Life and Art. New Haven, 1995, pp. 26–27, colorpl. 37.
Joachim Pissarro. "Monet at the Art Institute of Chicago." Apollo 142 (December 1995), p. 63, calls it a variation on "The Garden at Sainte-Adresse" (MMA 67.241), which he calls "the beginnings of serial painting".
Albert Kostenevich. Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Exh. cat.New York, 1995, p. 132.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 473, ill. p. 472.
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet. Vol. 2, Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis: Nos. 1–968. 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 48–49, no. 91, ill. (color).
Eliza E. Rathbone inImpressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party". Exh. cat., Phillips Collection. Washington, 1996, p. 17, fig. 2.
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 68, ill. p. 62 (color).
Belinda Thomson. "The Birth of Impressionism, Glasgow." Burlington Magazine 139 (August 1997), p. 562, fig. 44.
Dianne W. Pitman inMonet & Bazille: A Collaboration. Ed. David A. Brenneman. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art. Atlanta, 1998, pp. 53, 55, 64 n. 39, fig. 27 (color).
Guido Guiffrè inLa nascita dell'impressionismo. Ed. Marco Goldin. Exh. cat., Casa dei Carraresi, Treviso. Conegliano, Italy, 2000, pp. 273–74, ill.
Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Modern Art Comes to the Metropolitan: The 1921 Exhibition of 'Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings'." Apollo 152 (October 2000), p. 11.
Esmée Quodbach. "'The Last of the American Versailles': The Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002), pp. 57, 59, fig. 13.
John Leighton in Juliet Wilson-Bareau David Degener. Manet and the Sea. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Philadelphia, 2003, p. 215.
Eric M. Zafran. "Monet in the United States: The Early Years." Claude Monet–A Hymn to Light. Exh. cat., Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. 2004, p. 194.
Amy Barker et al. Boudin, Monet, and the Sea Painters of Normandy. Exh. cat., Bowes Museum. County Durham, England, 2004, p. 30.
Richard Brettell inMonet in Normandy. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. New York, 2006, p. 43.
Heather Lemonedes inMonet in Normandy. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. New York, 2006, pp. 58–61, 183, no. 4, ill. (color, overall and detail).
John House. Impressionists by the Sea. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2007, pp. 23–24, 75, 125, 130–32, no. 33, ill. pp. 77, 130 (color).
Eric M. Zafran inClaude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, pp. 96, 110.
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. 185, 214 n. 21, fig. 4 (color).
Christine I. Oaklander. "Jonathan Sturges, W. H. Osborn, and William Church Osborn: A Chapter in American Art Patronage." Metropolitan Museum Journal 43 (2008), pp. 188–89, 191, fig. 27 (color).
John House inClaude Monet: 1840–1926. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales, Grand Palais. Paris, 2010, p. 21, fig. 1 (color).
Joseph Baillio inClaude Monet: 1840–1926. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales, Grand Palais. Paris, 2010, pp. 54, 57, identifies the man in the gray suit and straw hat as Monet's father and the three other figures as probably members of the Lecadre family.
Simon Kelly inImpressionist France: Visions of Nation from Le Gray to Monet. Exh. cat., Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo. St. Louis, 2013, pp. 276–78, no. 109, ill. (color).
Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw inMonet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw. Chicago, 2014, paras. 7–10, under no. 13, fig. 13.7 (color) [https://publications.artic.edu/monet/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/135470], contrast its depiction of leisure activities at Sainte-Adresse to the focus on local life in the Chicago version; state that technical analysis of the Chicago version has revealed a group of subsequently painted-out figures and boats, which resemble the tourists and pleasure yachts in The Met’s picture; argue that Monet deliberately complicated the dialogue between the two pictures by changing the narrative focus of the Chicago painting at a later stage.
Kimberley Muir inMonet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw. Chicago, 2014, n. 26, under no. 13 [https://publications.artic.edu/monet/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/135470].
George T. M. Shackelford inMonet: The Early Years. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum. Fort Worth, 2016, p. 16, fig. 8 (color).
Juan Angel López-Manzanares inMonet / Boudin. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2018, p. 65, fig. 37 (color).
Monet’s father has been variously identified as one of the figures on the beach. Of the possible candidates, it may be noted that one seated gentleman wears the same costume—black coat, gray trousers, and black-beribboned straw hat—seen in Monet’s 1867 portrait of his father, Adolphe Monet in the Garden (private collection), and this carries over to Monet’s portrayal of him in The Met’s Garden at Sainte-Adresse (67.241).
This picture is closely related in composition and treatment to a painting of the same site dated 1867 in the Art Institute of Chicago.
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