efore we start, I want to tell you something straightaway.

With a dedicated focus on this one painting., we are confident to be able to offer the highest quality re-production of Impression Sunrise available.

Take this opportunity to get your original, hand-painted copy of this Monet masterpiece, either in the original size or one of our custom reproduced versions, proportionally sized to fit with your specific requirements.

In order to ensure that every reproduction of Impression Sunrise we paint is absolute top museum quality, we only work with a small select group of painters who have chosen to specialize themselves in the works of Claude Monet, with an emphasis on Impression Sunrise. These dedicated specialists are true masters of their craft, and their expertise enables us to offer you this unique opportunity to acquire a truly phenomenal painting.

Our paintings are all done 100% by hand, and the final layers are applied with the characteristic heavy brush strokes of Claude Monet. This also means that we are not only reproducing the motive of the painting - we also reproduce the structure and texture of this masterpiece. This ensures that the final painting has not only the look but also the feel of a true Claude Monet, a complete reproduced masterpiece. To be sure, a first class reproduction of Impression Sunrise on your wall is certainly miles beyond what a print or poster can offer, and it truly brings Claude Monet and his unique style of painting, right to your home.

When ordering your painting, expect a minimum of 2 -3 weeks for the painting along with 1-2 weeks for delivery. So a total of 3-4 weeks from you order the painting until you receive it. All paintings are dried once the painting is completed, and once the paint is completely dry, they are rolled in a painting tube and shipped by courier directly to you, free of charge. Once the painting is shipped, we forward you the tracking number so you can track the package if you should so desire.

Painted in 1872 by Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise depicts the harbor in Le Havre. It was first on display in 1874 at the first independent showing of what was later to become known as impressionism. The movement got its name during this show when critic Louis Leroy, inspired by the name "Impression Sunrise", declared the show "The Exhibition of the Impressionists". It was not initially meant as a compliment, though the artist there took to the name and kept it.

Impression Sunrise shows the sun, set against the dawn, in the harbor of Le Havre. In the background, some of the ships anchor; their silhouette disappears in the mist, though. In the foreground three small boats appear dimly. The water reflects the light of the rising sun. The painting features the orange color of the sky, set against the generally grey mood and with the vibrant force of the sun shining through in a motionless moment.

To many a spectator the sun seems alive, it seems to pulsate slightly or change in color as you observe the painting. This impressive effect comes from the fact that the sun and the clouds around it share the same brightness, when measured with e.g. a photometer. In fact, in a black and white copy of Impression Sunrise, you thus see the sun disappear almost completely from view. This lack of contrast is what helps bring the painting to life.

This effect also fuels our viewing please on the subconscious level, thus bringing the painting to life. As noted by Dr. Margaret Livingstone, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard University, the sun is perceived differently is different parts of our mind. To the more primitive subdivisions of our brain, the sun is nearly invisible. But to the primate subdivision, the sun appears normal. Thus, there is an inconsistency between our perception of the sun in the primitive and primate portions of our brain. The sun is poorly defined and ambiguous to the portion of our brain that carries information about position and movement, thus helping to create the interesting effect.

Had Monet instead painted the sun brighter than the surrounding clouds (as indeed it is), the painting would be less interesting. At the same time, the primitive part of our brain would see it better. It is the inconsistency in perception between the different parts of our brain that helps make this painting so appealing and alive.

he title of the painting led to the naming of the entire impressionist movement. Monet later explained the title himself:

"Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le Havre, from my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats sticking up in the foreground....They asked me for a title for the catalogue, it couldn't really be taken for a view of Le Havre, and I said: 'Put Impression'."

Like in Impression Sunrise, Monet also played with the influence of light in later paintings. This work took off in earnest in 1890, as Monet began to systematically paint the same subjects under different light conditions. The first subjects were the haystacks behind his house. As the light changed during the day faster than he could paint, he worked simultaneously on several canvases. At the end he had painted 25 different versions of the hay stacks.

More of the series paintings followed - the Rouen Cathedral, views of Venice or the Thames in London with the Houses of Parliament and other landmarks in London - often in the fog. When he painted in London in 1899 he said:

"Without the fog, London would not be a beautiful city."

At a different occasion, Monet expressed his philosophy as follows:

"I want the unobtainable. Other artists paint a bridge, a house, a boat, and that's the end. They are finished. I want to paint the air which surrounds the bridge, the house, the boat, the beauty of the air in which these objects are located, and that is nothing short of impossible."

He succeeded in this mission for the first time with his masterpiece, Impression Sunrise.

oday, Impression Sunrise is one of the most famous images of impressionism and still a study in the use of light in painting. It has inspired generations of painters since 1872, and today still maintains it position as one of the undisputed masterpieces of impressionism.

The painting also includes many of the elements that became the stable of impressionism including relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on the accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time) and ordinary subject matter.

Impression Sunrise also created some drama of a less artistic nature. It was stolen from the Musee Marmottan in Paris in 1985 by Philippe Jamin and Youssef Khimoun. The painting was later recovered in 1990. Since 1991 it has once again been on display in the Musée Marmottan.