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Claude Monet was one of a group of painters who created the style of art called 'Impressionism'. The name 'Impressionism' was a sarcastic tag attached to one of his paintings, 'Impression: Sunrise' (1873) in a review by Louis Leroy in the satirical magazine 'Le Charivari' (25th April 1874).

Impressionist painters tried to capture the quality of light and atmosphere of a subject under particular lighting or weather conditions. The Impressionist’s painting technique allowed artists to create colours and tones that had more natural appearance than anything achieved by traditional methods of painting.

In 1892–93, Monet painted more than thirty views of Rouen Cathedral. Moving from one canvas to another as the day progressed, Monet painted the facade with highly textured brushstrokes that both convey the aspect of sculpted stone and make the atmosphere and light palpable.

The pictures in the series are more than a record of the claude monet cathedral appearance at different times of the day; they are the record of the artist's subjective experience of light and atmosphere. Monet finished the works in his studio at Giverny, carefully adjusting the pictures both independently and in relation to each other.

In 1895, Monet successfully exhibited twenty of his cathedral pictures at Durand-Ruel's gallery in Paris. This one was titled Le Portail (Soleil), or The Portal (Sunlight).