Palazzo da Mula, Venice

Claude Monet

National Gallery of Art

Painted almost entirely in tones of topaz, lapis, and sky blue, the façade of a building abutting a waterway fills this horizontal painting. Brushstrokes are visible throughout and they blend to make the scene appear hazy. The top two-thirds of this painting shows the front of a building with two stories of rows of pointed, arched windows. Two long, low boats, gondolas, are pulled up side-by-side to one of the arched openings at the water level of the canal, to our right. A few touches of amethyst purple and mauve pink delineate some of the architectural features and shadows amid a field of denim and pale blue. The water below is painted with short, horizontal strokes to create a shimmering effect. The building’s reflection is captured with touches of emerald and cool green against the blue water. The artist signed and dated the work with cobalt-blue paint in the lower left: “Claude Monet 1908.”