Antibes
- Artist: Claude Monet
- Date: 1888
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Antibes” by Claude Monet. In early 1888, Monet packed up and headed to the south of France, chasing the bright Mediterranean light that was so different from the cool, misty scenes he’d been painting in the north. He said it would need “a palette of diamonds and jewels” to capture the intensity, and he didn’t hold back. The canvas bursts with sparkling oranges and pinks that dance against the strong greens and blues of a wind‑blown pine and the deep sea beyond.
The painting is an oil on canvas, finished in 1888, and it shows Monet’s mastery of light and color. You can almost feel the warm sun on the sand and hear the gentle waves from the way he layers the paint. The pine tree, rendered with quick, confident strokes, stands out like a bright green jewel against the shimmering water. Monet’s use of contrasting hues—bright, almost jewel‑like tones for the sky and sea—creates a sense of motion and depth that pulls you into the scene.
Overall, “Antibes” feels like a moment frozen in time, a snapshot of summer in the French Riviera, captured with the bold, luminous brushwork that would define Monet’s later work.
See it in person
Antibes hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
