Claude Monet

The Valley of the Nervia, 1884. Claude Monet. Oil on canvas. Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915.
Monet spent three months on the Italian Riviera in early 1884. He wrote a friend, "everything is superb and I want to paint it all … there are many experiments to make. This landscape is a new experience for me." Installing himself in the coastal town of Bordighera, Monet explored the scenic terrain. Here, he employed light, bright tones to depict the snowy Maritime Alps along the border with France. Nestled among the hills is the village of Camporosso, on the banks of the Nervia, not far from the river’s outlet in the Mediterranean Sea.