The Monet and London exhibition at The Courtauld Institute in London brings together an extraordinary collection of paintings by Impressionism’s most celebrated exponent. Beyond the sense of wonder one feels at seeing these works together for the first time in 120 years, they also provide food for thought when viewed over a century after they were painted.
Monet started work on the series in 1899 and completed it over a three-year period when back in France. He focused on just three subjects: Waterloo Bridge, Charing Cross Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, and was inspired by a fascination with the “fog effects” he could see from his balcony at The Savoy Hotel.
As he told a journalist in 1901, “The fog assumes all sorts of colours; there are black, brown, yellow, green, purple fogs… My practised eye has found that objects change in appearance in a London fog more and quicker than in any other atmosphere”. (Source: Monet and London exhibition guide)
The effect of the fog is integral to all the paintings, and the way it mixes with the smoke being emitted from the factories and mills on the South Bank is a particular focus in the Waterloo Bridge series.
At the time London was the biggest city on the planet, and the industrial activity on the South Bank and the river were central to this. This was a source of both celebration and wonder which no doubt played to Monet’s commercial instincts.
But what might we learn from these paintings today?
Looking back we now know that the fog, or “smog” as it came to be known, was a toxic combination of greenhouse gases that was doing both short-term harm to those that lived and worked within it, and long-term harm to the planet.
That same level of pollution when witnessed today in the cities of China and India is derided. We are as inclined to think about the cost of progress as we are the progress itself.
Might the first impression given by the greatest of all the Impressionists actually be a false impression, serving to blur and obscure the reality of early 20th century London? With the benefit of hindsight I think this is easy to say, but even at the time those walking the streets of the city, rather than sitting atop a balcony at the Savoy might have felt this.
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the industries and innovations of any era are both more benign and more permanent than they will turn out to be. The same, therefore, may also prove to be the case of today’s innovators in technology and AI.
The difference that should perhaps concern us all is that the sources and symptoms of smog are more visible and potentially more immediate than those that may be embedded in today’s technological developments.
As individuals and investors, we should always be looking beyond first impressions and beware false impressions.