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The first book to focus on Monet's work through his representation of architecture In an innovative approach, Richard Thomson considers Claude Monet's paintings of buildings in their environment, offering a reappraisal of an artist more often associated with landscapes, seascapes, and gardens. Buildings fulfilled various roles in Monet's canvases; some are chiefly compositional devices while others throw into sharp contrast the forms of man-made construction against the irregularity of nature, or suggest the absent presence of humans. The theme was both central and consistent over five decades of his 60-year career. Written by a renowned expert on Impressionism, this book covers Monet's representations of historical buildings, inner cities, beach resorts, railway bridges and stations, suburban housing, and busy harbors - subjects spanning northern France, the Mediterranean, and the cities of Rouen, London, and Venice.