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Large Framed Monet Print – "Morning on the Seine" - $65 (Seattle)
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Bring a classic touch of French Impressionism into your home with this beautiful, large-format framed print of Claude Monet’s iconic "Morning on the Seine in the Mist" (originally painted in 1897).
This piece features Monet's signature dreamlike blue and white palette, beautifully capturing the calm, reflective waters and morning light of the Seine river. It features a visible printed signature and date ("Claude Monet 97") in the lower-left corner.
The print comes professionally matted and housed in a sleek, teal-green frame that perfectly complements the cool tones of the artwork. The back features a "Museum Quality Discount Framing" label.
Details & Dimensions:
• Artist: Claude Monet
• Piece: Morning on the Seine (Matin sur la Seine)
• Total Frame Size: 35.5 inches (Height) x 38.5 inches (Width)
When was it painted & where was it shown?
The painting depicted in your print is part of a famous series called Mornings on the Seine (Matinées sur la Seine).
• When it was painted: Monet worked on this specific series during the summers of 1896 and 1897. He painted it right near his famous home in Giverny, France, where the Epte tributary feeds into the Seine River.
• The Exhibition: Monet debuted this series to the public in 1898 at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. He exhibited 18 of these river views hung side-by-side in a single room, creating an immersive, continuous loop of shifting morning light.
• Where the original is now: Because he painted 21 variations of this exact view, different versions live in major museums today. The specific version in your print—notable for its deep, monochromatic blue and lavender tones—closely matches the version hanging in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (titled "Morning on the Seine, near Giverny," 1897).
What does the "real art" sell for at auction?
Original paintings from this exact Mornings on the Seine series are incredibly rare, highly coveted, and worth a fortune when they occasionally hit the market:
• Recent 2024 Sale: In March 2024, a sister canvas from this series (Matinée sur la Seine, temps net) sold at Christie's in London for £14.39 million (approx. $18.5 million USD).
• Historical Range: Other versions from this 1896–1897 river series have sold at major evening auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie's for between $20 million and $23.4 million USD.
An interpretation of this art (The hard-to-understand elements)
At first glance, it looks like a pretty, tranquil river scene. But if you look deeper, Monet was doing something radical and psychologically complex with this series that pushes it to the brink of modern abstract art.
Here is what is actually going on beneath the surface:
The Weightless, "Bodiless" Perspective
Notice that there is no riverbank, no grass, and no solid ground visible at the bottom of the frame to anchor you. Monet purposely didn't paint from the shore; he painted from a customized studio-boat (bateau-atelier) anchored right in the middle of the current. By cropping out the land beneath the viewer, he forces you to feel suspended, floating, or completely weightless directly over the water.
The Illusion of Symmetry (Which way is up?)
The trees hanging from the sky and the reflections rising from the bottom are painted with almost identical texture and weight. If you flipped the image upside down, it would look nearly identical. This intense vertical symmetry was meant to disorient the viewer, blurring the boundary between reality (the trees) and illusion (the water's reflection) until the two merge into one flat plane of color.
The Obsessive 3:30 AM Process
This isn't a casual landscape; it was an athletic, agonizing feat of timing. In the summer of 1897, Monet would wake up at 3:30 AM, trek through the dew, and get onto his boat by dawn. He had a custom slotted box on the boat holding up to a dozen canvases at once. As the sun rose, the light and mist shifted every few minutes. He would work on Canvas 1 for ten minutes, and the moment the sun broke the horizon, he would slide it out and paint on Canvas 2 to capture the next micro-phase of light.
Pure Abstraction and Melancholy
By erasing all human elements—no boats, no people, no buildings—and drowning the image in monochromatic blues and purples, Monet wasn't trying to paint a literal place. He was trying to map time, atmosphere, and memory. The dark contre-jour (backlighting) effect creates an eerie, quiet atmosphere where the land is dissolving into mist, anticipating the pure abstract water lily paintings he would focus on for the rest of his life.
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