Parliament at Sunset, Claude Monet from the old master collection

n 1900, the Houses of Parliament in London, on the banks of the Thames, were a regular theme in Monet's work. His early works of the theme were created from the terrace at St. Thomas's Hospital, close to Westminster Bridge on the opposite bank. London, famed for its fog, clearly shows the Houses of Parliament filtering through, on a fall or winter day. It is ethereal and ghostly in its approach, while the sky and water of the Thames are painted in purple and orange hues.

His late London series produced around 95 canvases, grouped around three themes - Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. By the time of the Houses of Parliament series, Monet had abandoned his earlier practice of completing a painting on the spot in front of the motif. He carried on refining the images back in France, and sent to London for photographs to help in this. This caused some adverse reaction, but Monet's reply was that his means of creating a work was his own business, and it was up to the viewer to judge the final result.