Boats on the Thames, London 1901

Here's Monet, in London, doing his thing with those boats on the Thames. He's conjuring atmosphere with these soft marks and muted tones. Just looking at it, I can imagine him, outside, shivering in the cold, squinting into the mist. What I love about Monet is the surface. It feels like he's not just painting a scene, but he's actually wrestling with the elements themselves. Look at the way he layers those colors – pinks and blues and grays – building up this hazy, dreamlike effect. It's like he's trying to capture something that's always shifting, always just out of reach. And that little boat right there, almost swallowed by the fog. It's just a few strokes, but it says so much. Monet’s always in dialogue with Turner, but forging his own path. He's pushing painting to be less literal, more about feeling and sensation. It makes you realize that painting is an ongoing conversation, each artist building on what came before, challenging it, and making it their own.