In 1893 and 1894, over two campaigns that stretched from winter into spring, Claude Monet worked on 30 canvases, all of them depicting the West Façade of Rouen’s great Gothic cathedral in the Normandy region of France.

Built in the span of about 800 years, the cathedral was Rouen’s most famous landmark. Generations of artists had painted it before Monet. But no one had thought to paint it the way he would.

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In April 1892, Claude Monet had a vivid nightmare — a falling dream, you could call it. But it wasn’t his own body tumbling through space; it was a cathedral crashing down on him.
It was Rouen Cathedral.

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Monet painted the cathedral more than 30 times between 1892 and 1894, obsessively capturing the play of light on the façade at different times of day and under varying weather conditions.

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To get the perfect view, Monet rented rooms in buildings directly across from the cathedral. He set up his easel by the window, working on multiple canvases at once to switch paintings as the light changed.

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At times, he’d have up to 10 canvases lined up in his studio, quickly rotating between them to match the changing light. Imagine him frantically swapping paintings every few minutes as shadows shifted!

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When the series was first exhibited in 1895, people were surprised. Instead of focusing on the cathedral’s architectural grandeur, Monet turned it into a shimmering play of color and atmosphere, which was revolutionary at the time.

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Up close, the paintings seem like chaotic dabs of color, but when viewed from a distance, the cathedral magically takes shape — a hallmark of Monet’s Impressionist technique.

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Monet saw the cathedral not just as a structure but as a living canvas for exploring light and perception. For him, the real subject wasn’t the building itself but the ever-changing light that danced across its surface.

Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series features oil paintings on canvas, most pieces around 100 cm (39 in) tall and 65 cm (26 in) wide.

Rouen Cathedral  paintings are spread across major museums and private collections around the world. Some notable locations include:

• Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France
• National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., USA
• Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA
• Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA
• National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan

A few pieces also remain in private collections.