Appearances


House of Parliament, Sunset by Claude Monet.
The Houses of Parliament, Sunset 1903
Claude Monet, French, 1840 - 1926
Oil on canvas, 81.3 x 92.5 cm
Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.48
Copyright ©2003 National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

(Click on image for larger version.)

In the room there are needles, basins and plastic tubing, 
women with dark bruised veins, men whose skin has yellowed.  
Some people doze, chemicals dripping into their veins. 
Others try reading papers.  One woman asks the nurse: 
"Please turn me so I can look out  the window," 
and as she is turned, observes:  "Look, it's Monet." 
  
        A thin lavender-grey fog has washed across 
        the horizon, the river and the far shore. 
        Lines of winter trees and buildings are tinted 
        more deeply, more purple,  
        and their reflections in the water oscillate 
        with strokes of violet and pearl grey. 
 
                Memory restores to me haystacks, 
                poplars, and the gardens at Giverny. 
                I am buoyed to the surface 
                by water lilies, and float 
                lightly between 
                blue-green leaves. 

Gail Golden


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