Impression, Sunrise

This hazy view of the port of Le Havre carries a big secret: it is the painting that named a whole art movement. When Monet displayed it in 1874, a critic seized on the word "Impression" in its title and used it as a jab, dismissing the work as unfinished. The joke backfired. Monet and his fellow painters happily took the label, and Impressionism went on to become one of the best loved styles in the history of art. This foggy morning scene is, quite literally, where the story starts.

Monet painted almost nothing in sharp focus here, and that was the whole point. The boats float as dark little smudges, the water is built from short, quick strokes, and the entire harbor seems to shimmer through the mist. The orange sun steals the show, its glowing reflection breaking apart into dabs of color across the surface. He was chasing a feeling more than a picture, the sensation of watching a port stir awake at dawn.

Curious minds later put the painting under a scientific microscope. By studying the position of the sun and the movement of the tides, researchers pinned down the likely moment Monet stood at his window: about 7:35 in the morning on November 13, 1872. That is a surprisingly precise answer for a canvas that critics once brushed off as a rough sketch.