Claude Monet. The Church at Vétheuil. 1878. Oil on canvas. 65 cm x 56 cm. © National Galleries of Scotland.

In 1878, Claude Monet moved his family to Vétheuil, a small village on the Seine River to the west of Paris. When they moved to the village, Monet’s wife Camille was already seriously ill, and she was to die there the following year. Camille Doncieux is buried in the old cemetery in Vétheuil. Monet stayed on in the town until 1881. While there he painted over a hundred canvases of the village, the Seine and the Church. These paintings are now spread all over the world, such as the one above which is now in Scotland.

Monet painted the Romanesque church in Vétheuil quite frequently. He was not attracted to its appearance or anything particular about its architecture, but rather the effects of light on its façade at different times of the day, at different times of the year. Monet would return to the painting of ecclesiastical façades, in particular the Rouen Cathedral, in the 1890s.

If you fancy renting a holiday home in Vétheuil, you are in luck – the house to the right of this scene is available on a weekly basis in Spring and Summer, click here for more details: Holiday Rental Accommodation, Vétheuil. This would be a perfect base to visit Giverny and Paris.