Monet began this painting between 1899 - 1901. X-rays revealed that the initial painting included towers and belching smokestacks on the far bank – landmarks that appear in other views of this subject. He dissolved the original industrial landscape, focusing instead on light and the “ghostly magnificence of London.” Not all traces of urban life have been erased – morning traffic bustles atop the bridge while two scullers float along the undulating water in the fog-cloaked glow of the sun.