Houses of Parliament, Westminster

Claude Monet rendered this Westminster's famous Gothic Revival architecture as part of his Thames series, produced during London visits between 1899 and 1901. The Houses of Parliament rise through atmospheric haze, their distinctive spires and towers rendered in Monet's characteristic broken brushwork. From his vantage point at St Thomas' Hospital, he captured how fog transformed solid stone into shimmering apparition.

All paintings in this series share roughly the same canvas size of 81 by 92 centimeters, yet each captures entirely different light conditions. Monet was particularly drawn to how London's famous fog created effects impossible to find elsewhere. The city's industrial atmosphere, a mix of coal smoke and river mist, became the true subject of these works.

This Impressionist painting now hangs at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The 2024 Courtauld exhibition "Monet in London" reunited many of these Thames paintings in London for the first time since their 1904 Paris debut.