Rouen Cathedral

Claude Monet 1840–1926

Rouen Cathedral (1892) by Claude Monet. Its palette is led by light tan (#a89d95, 47%) and amber brown (#8f857d, 41%). Overall the canvas is light, muted and warm.

Color note

Monet painted outdoors with the new tube paints and synthetic pigments and all but banished black, building shadows from blues and violets. His series of haystacks and of Rouen Cathedral record how the color of one subject changes with the light.

Palette

#a89d95 MG 164 light tan 47.3% of canvas
#8f857d MG 165 amber brown 40.7% of canvas
#c8b4aa MG 150 pale reddish tan 8.7% of canvas
#746c66 MG 175 stone 3.3% of canvas

Color families

Brown 65%, Gray 31%, Blue 2%, Red 1%, Green 0%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.67
Contrast: 0.17
Vividness: 0.023
Warmth: +0.98
Complexity: 16 cells
Hue range: 0.31
Focus: 0.06

Composition

51% of the visual weight is in the right half, 53% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.89 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 55% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 41% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1892
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade

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More by Claude Monet

Luncheon on the Grass, 1866
Garden at Sainte-Adresse, 1867
Regatta at Sainte-Adresse, 1867
Woman in the Garden, 1867
La Grenouillère, 1869
Impression, Sunrise, 1872
Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875
Madame Monet wearing a kimono, 1876
Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899
Water Lilies, 1919