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Monet pastel drawing of London's Waterloo Bridge on display at the Savoy hotel
Artist created the picture -- the view from room 618 -- during a stay there in 1901
He intended to paint the scene in oils, but his supplies were delayed en route from France
A Claude Monet pastel drawing of London’s Waterloo Bridge has gone on display in the Savoy hotel room where it was created 110 years ago.
Monet drew the bridge across the Thames during a stay in room 618 at the hotel – now known as the Monet Suite – in January 1901.
He had intended to paint the view from his balcony in oils, but his art supplies and canvases were delayed on their way from his home in France.
On Monday, the picture – one of 26 pastel views of the river created by the impressionist – returned, albeit temporarily. It will be exhibited at the hotel until December 16.
“Since opening in 1889, the Savoy has played host to numerous artists, such as Whistler and Picasso,” said manager Kiaran MacDonald.
“However Monet’s views of the Thames are without doubt the most celebrated works of art associated with the hotel.”
The picture is the only one of Monet’s pastels of the river not in a museum collection. It is currently owned by a private gallery, Trinity House, and is for sale for a reported $2.32m.
Monet (1840-1926) lived in London during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71, and visited the city on several other occasions, in order to depict its buildings through the then-famous fog.
“London would be quite ugly if it was not for the fog,” he wrote in a letter from the Savoy on an earlier stay in 1900.
