La Débâcle, 1880

Oil on canvas

University of Michigan Museum of Art

Acquired through the generosity of Mr. Russell B. Stearns (LS&A, 1916) and his wife, Andrée B. Stearns, Dedham, Massachusetts, 1976/2.134

La Débâcle or The Breakup of the Ice

"La Débâcle" means "the disaster," and that is precisely what the years 1878 to 1881 were for Monet. He painted La Débâcle during the winter after the death of his wife, Camille. Just a year before, in 1878, they had moved to the little town of Vétheuil, where they shared a house with the Hoschedés. Both families were very poor and they hoped that in coming together things would be a little bit easier on them.

During this period Monet often did not have enough money to buy paints and canvas. He was often forced to paint what people would buy. When he painted still lifes he found that they sold a lot better than his landscapes. He also did not like to travel, even to see an exhibition with his work in it, for fear that he would lose an hour of sunlight in which he could work outdoors; however, he would still travel to Paris and meet with prospective buyers.

While Camille was dying he mostly painted pictures that appeared happy of Alice Hoschedé and her children. Many people say that Monet painted the ice floes out of remorse for the death of his wife Camille. Monet thought that the ice floes were one of the most inspiring and affecting things that he had seen in his entire life.

There are two paintings that will also be at the exhibition that are painted of the same scene. One of them is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was painted in the summer. It presents a very different view of the Seine showing the same section as the Michigan painting. The white chalky streaks on the cliff in the back ground are much more apparent in the summer painting. There is also another painting from Madrid done in the winter that has quite a different range of colors. Reds, greens, and browns are more visible in that one, whereas the one from the University of Michigan Museum of Art has mostly blues, purples, and whites.