Claude Monet The Seine at Giverny, Morning Mists, 1897

The effect created in the Seine series is purely decorative. The colors are manipulated from reality in order to create different combinations. This can make some of the paintings seem very pale when reproduced on the page. For Monet, the Seine provided the challenge of capturing conditions. It had the combination of light on water that had intrigued him so many times before. As can be seen in these two paintings, his treatment of reflection changed over the years. In "La Seine pres de Giverny" (1894), The reflection of the trees is not rendered in detail, instead it is a dark patch that is white paint to infiltrate the dark reflection to represent the effect of light on water, sparkling off the surface. In the Seine paintings the nature of reflection has changed. The water has become a mirror image of the subject both in missing in other work. In addition, the trees framing the water landscape of "La Seine pres de Giverny".