Claude Monet | The Rue Montorgueil, 1878

The Rue Montorgueil, Paris was painted by Claude Monet (1840-1926) on 30 June 1878 for a festival declared that year by the government celebrating "peace and work".

This was one of the events organised for the third Universal Exhibition in Paris a few weeks after it opened, and intended to be a symbol of France’s recovery after the defeat of 1870.

As well as demonstrating nationalist enthusiasm, the celebrations of 30 June 1878 were also an opportunity to strengthen the position of the Republican regime, still fragile only a few months after the major confrontations of 1876-1877 between its supporters and the conservatives.

It was only two years later, in 1880, that 14 July was designated the French National Day.

This painting proposes a distanced vision of an urban landscape by a painter who did not mix with the crowd, but observed it from a window.

The three colours vibrating in Monet's painting are those of modern France.

The impressionist technique, with its multitude of small strokes of colour, suggests the animation of the crowd and the wavering of flags.

This allowed the American historian Philip Nord to write that it perfectly fits the "republican moment" marking the emergence of a democratic society and its roots in contemporary France.

With this painting, Monet revealed a hidden aspect of modernity, while simultaneously achieving the work of a "reporter".

La rue Montorgueil, come la sua gemella La rue Saint-Denis (Rouen, musée des Beaux-arts), viene spesso vista come una celebrazione del 14 luglio, festa nazionale francese.

Il dipinto, infatti, è stato realizzato il 30 giugno 1878 in occasione della festa "della pace e del lavoro", istituita quello stesso anno dal governo.

Questo evento è una delle celebrazioni organizzate per la terza Esposizione universale di Parigi, inaugurata soltanto poche settimane prima e che pretende di assurgere a simbolo della rinascita della Francia dopo la disfatta del 1870.

Il 30 giugno 1878, giorno in cui si celebra l'entusiasmo nazionale, è anche l'occasione per dare ulteriore vigore al regime repubblicano che ha assunto la guida del paese ma che è, a pochi mesi di distanza dai feroci scontri del 1876-1877 che hanno visto violentemente opporsi i suoi sostenitori ed i conservatori, non è ancora abbastanza forte.

Soltanto due anni dopo, nel 1880, il 14 luglio viene proclamato festa nazionale francese.

Questo quadro mostra una veduta osservata ad una certa distanza di un paesaggio urbano, ad opera di un pittore che non si mischia alla folla ma che si limita ad osservarla da una finestra.

I tre colori che Monet fa vibrare sono quelli della Francia moderna.

La tecnica impressionista, con le sue molteplici piccole pennellate di colore descrive bene l'animazione della folla e lo sventolio delle bandiere.

Questo fatto spinge lo storico americano Philip Nord a ritenere che, tale tecnica, si sposi perfettamente con la rappresentazione del "momento repubblicano" che segna la nascita di una società democratica ed il suo radicamento nella Francia contemporanea.

Con questo quadro, Monet rivela un aspetto nascosto della modernità, nello stesso momento in cui egli agisce quasi in veste di "reporter". | © Musée d'Orsay

Claude Monet | Rue Saint-Denis, Celebration of 30th June 1878

The subject of this painting is the first official national celebration to take place following the defeat of Napoleon III in 1870, when the conservatives regained power.

The festivities marked the 1878 Universal Exhibition and also heralded the advent of the French Third Republic, established several months later.

Social commentators of the day remarked on the enthusiasm evident on this Sunday 30th June when the tricolour dominated the streets of Paris.

According to the Goncourt brothers, even hearses carrying the deceased to the cemetery were decked out with the national flag.

The street, flooded with jubilant Parisians, is depicted from high above with a strong sense of perspective: the dark triangle of the crowds extends up towards the inverted triangle of the sky.

Rendered with rapid brushstrokes, in flashes of pure colour, the fluttering, flapping, twisting flags dominate the space.

In this weightless, shifting atmosphere, a banner conceals a "VIVE LA FRANCE" (Long Live France) and a flag shows a partial "VIVE LA REP[ublique]" (Long Live the Republic).

The painting brings to mind the words of a critic of the Impressionists in 1876: ‘They take canvases, colours and brushes, lay on a few indiscriminate tones and then risk everything’.

The success of the work matched that of the celebration.

Described as ‘muscial’, it was purchased on 1st August by the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, to be acquired after his death (in 1896) by François Depeaux, who donated his Impressionist collection to the Musée de Rouen. | Source: © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen