London, the Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Opening in Fog

London, the Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Opening in Fog (1904) at the Musée d'Orsay is one of the masterpieces of Monet's London series, comprising nearly one hundred canvases painted from London hotels between 1899 and 1901 and then extensively reworked in Giverny. Monet adored London's coal-smoke fog, finding in it the same atmospheric dissolution that the Norman sea mist and Rouen's humidity had provided. The Houses of Parliament canvases show the Gothic silhouette emerging from thick atmospheric vapour, lit by shafts of sunlight breaking through—a combination of architectural drama and meteorological spectacle perfectly suited to Monet's serial method.

The Gothic towers are rendered as dark purple silhouettes against a luminous, coloured fog suffused with warm sun. Monet's technique in the London series is more blended than in earlier work—soft, atmospheric edges replacing the confident sharp marks of the 1870s–80s. The palette is dominated by violet, gold, and orange in dramatic complementary opposition.