The real blue house of Monet’s world famous painting The Blue House gets its original color. In 2014 it was already partially painted blue, but not in the right shade of blue. That is now being rectified, much to the delight of paint expert Frits Schuster and the Monet Foundation.
For a long time it was thought that the blue of Monet’s world-famous painting was just a fantasy color of the painter. But the Zaanse paint expert and Monet guide Frits discovered after thorough research that the house on the Hogedijk was really blue in 1871 when Monet made it.
Frits Schuster found no fewer than 54 layers of paint on one of the building blocks dating from 1724, they were layers like the annual rings of an ancient tree. Because in the past, every layer was painted over. But how did he find out which coat of paint belonged to Monet? “Well”, he says, “I assumed that painting would take place about every ten years. And that meant the period for Monet from 1864 to 1874 because he painted it in 1871. And that turned out to be correct.” The 46th coat of paint was blue. “I was very proud of myself at the time”, Frits beams.
Wrong blue
Frits was very proud of his discovery and in 2014 the house was painted blue. “I knew then that it wasn’t quite the right shade of blue,” he says now. “But that couldn’t be reversed at the time because a Monet blue color was specially made.”
It is now being rectified. Frits hopes it will remain that way for the next 100 years. “Even if I won’t experience that again myself.” The painting is world famous and it was also Monet’s favorite painting. “He has also written that he thought The Blue House was his best work. It was also so dear to him because his wife and son are on it.” It is also the painting on which his son is depicted.