By the time of the Houses of Parliament series, Monet had abandoned his earlier practice of completing a painting on the spot in front of the motif.
This caused some adverse reaction, but Monet's reply was that his means of creating a work was his own business and it was up to the viewer to judge the final result.
[16] On the other hand, analyses of solar positioning reported in 2006 show that Monet's paintings "contain elements of accurate observation and may potentially be considered as a proxy indicator for the Victorian smogs and atmospheric states they depict.
"[16] A 2023 study shows that "stylistic changes from more figurative to impressionistic paintings by Turner and Monet over the 19th century strongly covary with increasing levels of air pollution.
In particular, stylistic changes in their work toward hazier contours and a whiter color palette are consistent with the optical changes expected from higher atmospheric aerosol concentrations.