The Green Wave

When this early seascape debuted at the 1879 Impressionist exhibition, a critic remarked that it was "directly influenced by Manet." The handling of paint and the composition, especially the high horizon line, echo Manet's depictions of American warships, The "Kearsarge" at Boulogne (1999.442) and The Battle of the "Kearsarge" and the "Alabama" (Philadelphia Museum of Art), which Monet may have seen on exhibition in Paris in 1865 and 1867. He later—and incorrectly—dated the present work to 1865. In fact, he visited the Normandy coast in 1866 and 1867.