Claude Monet holds “Rouen Cathedrals” in high regard – this series marks a crucial phase in his later artistic expression. What led him to select Rouen Cathedral? The narrative commenced years earlier. Impressionists typically engaged with expansive vistas – they had a penchant for compositions from elevated vantage points, urban panoramas, and railway stations. Legend has it that in 1886, French critic and art historian, Monet’s comrade Gustave Geffroy, upon viewing the maestro’s seascape “Rocks at Belle-Île” (now housed in the GMII – Vedomosti), drew parallels between the cliffs and outcrops jutting out from the ocean amidst tumultuous waters, and the silhouettes of medieval fortresses and cathedrals.