University of Birmingham - Good impressions

Scientists have pinpointed the exact date and location used by Claude Monet to paint five famous pictures. For four paintings of Waterloo Bridge and one of Charing Cross Bridge, scientists at the University of Birmingham discovered that during stays at the Savoy Hotel in London between 1899 and 1901, the artist used balconies on the fifth and sixth floors as vantage points. The scientists used the depiction of Cleopatra's Needle in the foreground of two of the paintings to match the related rooms. Once the location had been verified, the team was able to date the images using weather data from Kew Gardens and Monet's descriptions of snow, sun and fog.