14 Oct-17 Jan 2005. This exhibition at the Galeries Nationales du Grand-Palais explores the connection between these three artists that can be traced back to London in 1871. Claude Monet (1840-1926) had then taken refuge in the British capital during this terrible year and discovered the work of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), in particular the Turner Bequest exhibited at that time, as well as the first Nocturnes by Whistler (1834-1903) who himself had very early on been seduced by the English master's landscapes. Monet might also have been acquainted with Whistler's engravings of the river Thames published the same year. This experience certainly influenced the artist's outlook and the later pictorial movement of impressionism.

The first Monet pieces inspired in 1871 by the river Thames, his "Effects of fog on the Thames" and his first paintings of the Houses of Parliament, can be seen alongside his later work from the famous series of "Views of the Thames", including the Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges. Comparison of these variations by Monet with Whistler's engravings, or with Turner's paintings and watercolours, from London to the ultimate sojourn in Venice, are extremely revealing. To this three-voiced dialogue full of poetry and constituted of moving and elegiac pieces, is added works by Ruskin and Mallarm, abounding in perfect harmony. For more information: