The Basin at Argenteuil by Monet

The Basin At Argenteuil, 1874

The boat basin at Argenteuil, with its long promenade and terraced café, was a popular site for watching sailing regattas on the Seine. Monet set up his easel on an island across the river, distinguishing optical effects and textures with strategically varied brushmarks. Using pigments direct from tubes and mixed on his palette, he evoked the bramble of grasses in the foreground with congested jabs of color. Horizontal dashes capture the water and the reflections of broadly painted sailboats, and tiny dark and light flicks mark a procession of plane trees.

Our puzzle design populates the painting with whimseys of swimmers and divers, sailboats under way, a boy flying a kite, and swifts coursing through the air. Like in other puzzles, the design here is meant to complement the puzzle's image by filling in areas of the painting's composition with plenty of human and animal characters engaged in leisurely summer activities.

Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI.