Claude Monet
The Rue Montorgueil in Paris

The Rue Montorgueil in Paris. Celebration of June 30, 1878

The Rue Montorgueil, like its twin painting The Rue Saint-Denis, is often thought to be a celebration of July 14. In fact, it was executed on June 30, 1878 on the occasion of the celebration of the end of the World Fair, a demonstration of national and republican enthusiasm a few months only after the great confrontation between republicans and conservators in 1876-1877.

This painting proposes a distanced vision of an urban landscape by a painter who did not mix with the crowd, but observed it from a window. The three colours vibrating in Monet's painting are those of modern France.

The impressionist technique, with its multitude of small strokes of colour, suggests the animation of the crowd and the wavering of flags. This allowed the American historian Philip Nord to write that it perfectly fits the "republican moment" marking the emergence of a democratic society and its roots in contemporary France. With this painting, Monet revealed a hidden aspect of modernity, while simultaneously achieving the work of a "reporter".