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© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
WebMuseum's
page for this painting. The photographer gave me permission to display the
small version of the photo here.
Claude Monet's Impression Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant) is one of the most famous paintings in the world. In fact, it is the painting that gave the Impressionist Movement it's name. A critic tried to ridicule the artists of this style, by calling them impressionists.
While looking through a bookstore, I noticed a children's book about Claude Monet. I browsed through it, and when I came to the part about Impression Sunrise, I read that the painting had been stolen. I had read several books about Monet. And, I didn't remember reading about this interesting fact. I tried to check on this, and learn more. None of the books that I could find, in book stores or libraries, mentioned that the painting had been stolen.
Eventually, I bought the Monet, Catalogue Raisonné, by Daniel Wildenstein, a massive four-volume set with photographs of every known Monet painting (1983 of them). And I read the following facts about Impression Sunrise. It was signed, "Claude Monet. 72", but he actually painted it in 1873. He probably added the "72" years after he painted it. It shows the harbor at Le Havre, looking south-east. It was stolen from the Musée Marmottan, in Paris, on 27 October, 1985. It was recovered in December, 1990. It is currently at the Musée Marmottan.
And it would seem that most books on Monet do not mention the theft, because they were written before 1985.