Monet’s series paintings can really be seen as a logical extension to the Impressionists principle of painting the light and capturing a fleeting moment in time.Using colour rather than contour,Monetpainted more than 30 views of the cathedral in February 1892, returning the following year and completing the works at Giverny between 1893 and 1894. His brushmarks and colours describe both the surface detail of the fa?ade and the sense of solidity. In May 1895, Durand-Ruel exhibited 50 paintings, including many of the Rouen paintings. As with the Haystacks series, the critical response was ecstatic.

Monet’s Cathedrals series is a spectacular demonstration of his determination to capture a particular instant. He did not study the Gothic architecture for itself, but as a base for his artistic explorations. In order to see the changing shapes in different light and weather effects, he purposefully selected a solid , complex object. “Everything changes even stone , “ he declares. He applied the paint thickly and vigorously, catching both rough texture of the cathedral’s surface and the vibrations of light - even in overcast, dull weather. “How hard it is but it works,” he wrote to Alice.