A THOROUGHLY MODERN MONET BRIDGES THE OLD AND THE NEW THIS MAY AT CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK Christie’s International is delighted to announce the sale of Claude Monet’s Le Pont du chemin de fer ŕ Argenteuil, one of the greatest Impressionist pictures left in private hands.
News-Antique.com - Feb 29,2008 - Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale
May 6, 2008
New York – Christie’s International is delighted to announce the sale of Claude Monet’s Le Pont du
chemin de fer ŕ Argenteuil, one of the greatest Impressionist pictures left in private hands. Painted in
1873, Le Pont du chemin de fer ŕ Argenteuil is a rare and luminous masterpiece of high Impressionist
style and a hugely significant work in Monet’s oeuvre (estimate on request). The work will be sold
during Christie’s New York Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale on May 6. The picture may
break the world auction record for the most well-known and sought-after Impressionist painter.
Guy Bennett, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s Americas, says: “This is the truly
exceptional Impressionist picture the market has been waiting for. Appearing at auction for the first
time in a generation, and with a highly compelling subject matter, this masterpiece by Monet will
provide a cornerstone of our May Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art. Comprising all
the elements of a great Impressionist work, the picture will attract both private and institutional
collectors. Its sale will be a great moment for the market and will provide a sturdy barometer for
works that truly are the best of the best.”
Argenteuil was a picturesque suburban town just outside Paris and its surroundings provided this
central motif for Impressionism. In the early 1870s, Monet, Renoir and Sisley all painted in the
town, giving rise to its status as the locus classicus of Impressionism. At that time, it had become a
center for pleasure-boating by the affluent Parisian middle classes, and the sailing boats in the
picture allude to this new status. Monet rented a house in the town, close to where this picture was
painted.
The painting is full of the novelty and drama of Monet’s fascination with modernity and art. The
scene is dominated by the railroad bridge, spanning the image from left to right and stretching the
already elongated horizontal canvas. Although monumental and industrial, the bridge is not an
unwanted, obtrusive element in the composition, but is seemingly admired by the bystanders on the
left bank.
A testimony to modern engineering, the bridge at Argenteuil, with the two trains running over it, the
boats passing underneath, and the men on the footpath, provide motifs that celebration the arrival
of the modern, of progress and of man’s ability to shape the future. The work conveys an idealistic
view of the calm union of the old and the new, the rural and the industrial, of work and of pleasure.
It is a painting that speaks of the new challenges and hopes of a society embracing the modern with
confidence and optimism.
Auction: Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale May 6, 2008
Viewing: Christie’s Rockefeller Galleries, New York May 2 - 6
International Exhibition
• Christie’s London: February 22-27
• Hyatt Hotel, Hong Kong: April 4-5
About Christie’s
Christie’s is the world's leading art business with global auction sales in 2007
