Waterloo Bridge, London, at Sunset

Claude Monet

National Gallery of Art

We look across a river at a bridge that spans the center of this horizontal landscape, which is painted entirely with broad, visible brushstrokes in pastel colors. The straight deck of the bridge crosses the center of the composition but angles slightly away from us as it moves to our right. The four low arches of the bridge are painted with cotton candy pink and pale apricot. The sky above is painted loosely with light aquamarine blue and watery turquoise. A few vertical strokes of paint over the bridge suggests buildings along the riverbank beyond. The bridge is reflected in the water below so the blue, green, orange, and pink swirl together. The artist signed the painting in violet-purple letters in the lower right corner: “Claude Monet.”