Morning Haze

Claude Monet

National Gallery of Art

Tall, oval forms slowly emerge against a field of softly painted white, pale sky blue, shell pink, light lilac purple, and faint yellow to become trees in a hazy, foggy field in this nearly square landscape painting. The paint is swept on in short, visible strokes. The tallest tree, reaching almost to the top of the canvas, stands to our left of center. Three shorter, bushier trees, about a quarter the height, flank the tall tree with one to our left and two closer to the right edge. Two narrow trees stand between the tallest one and the bushier pair to our right. The artist signed the work in orange paint in the lower left corner: “Claude Monet.”