Impression, Sunrise is a slight sketch, almost certainly completed on the spot in one sitting by Claude Monet, standing at a hotel window at Le Havre overlooking the harbor at sunrise. It depicting the harbor at the sun rises over the cranes, derricks, and masts of the anchored ships. The only evidence of life is the lazy action of the oarsman in the most sharply defined part of the composition. Monet stripped away the details to a bare minimum. The dockyards in the background and the boats in the foreground are merely suggested by a few brushstrokes. The indistinct forms of the harbor run across the painting, and a diagonal from the left edge through the three small boats emphasizes the positioning of the orange sun, while the middle small boat repeats the sun's position in the alternative quarter. The effect of this is a dynamic balance in which the reflection of the sun in the water enlivens the scene.
The painting Impression, Sunrise represents Claude Monet's swift attempt to capture a fleeting moment. It is strongly atmospheric and has a spirit somewhat akin to William Turner's paintings. The colors are very restrained and the paint is applied in very thin washes. The clear shape and strong orange color of the sun provide the keynote for the painting, with the dense, muted pale blue surrounding it. The dark note of the nearest boat identifies and stabilizes the orange color key, and the darkest element in the painting being the single near-black accented horizontal defining the waterline. In some places, the painting is even visible and the only use of impasto is in the depiction of the reflected sunlight on the water.
