This is a beautiful piece by Monet, a very famous Impressionist painter who was quite fascinated with water and light effects in nature, taking great care with the effects in his paintings to highlight them. This piece is part of a series of paintings, the Houses of Parliament series, as they depict the Palace of Westminster, where the British Parliament met. Each are painted at different times of day, in different conditions and seasons. This particular painting depicts the Palace of Westminster with stormy skies in the background. Monet uses gold to highlight the light of the sun peaking through storm clouds, falling in a single ray that is highlighted in water, making the churning waters sharper in contrast to the more shadow-like palace. The shadows of the palace stretch onto the water, the sky is a tumultuous mix of greys, golds, purples, pinks, greens, and russet brown. Truly, it is a beautiful play of light and water, and unique in that it shows stormy skies with gold, not grey. The contrasts in light and color provide for a more natural and unique view, rather than plain old grey. Of chiaroscuro, which is the use of light and shadow, this truly is a wonderful piece of the House of Parliament on a day with stormy skies.
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