Rouen Cathedral Series

What it is

This series, painted by Claude Monet in 1892-1893 and reworked in his studio in 1894, shows the west façade of Rouen Cathedral in Normandy under many different lighting conditions. Monet rented a space across from the cathedral to work on it. The Musée d'Orsay holds five of the paintings on permanent display.

Why it matters

For Monet, the real subject was never the stone building but the light and atmosphere playing across it, an idea he pursued obsessively, even describing nightmares of the cathedral collapsing on him in different colors. The series arrived at a moment of renewed interest in Catholicism in France and in Gothic architecture as a symbol of French history, and it was praised by fellow painters Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne.

Look closer

• Compare how the same stone façade might look different at different times of day - what would change?
• Why might Monet have cared more about light than about the architecture itself?
• What does it tell you about his working method that he sometimes needed many canvases going at once?