In the footsteps of:

Claude Oscar Monet (Paris 1840 - Giverny 1926).

A great figure of impressionism, Claude Monet began in Le Havre in Northern France where he did caricatures of passing characters (Some of them are on show today in the Chicago Institute of Art). His father recognized his artistic aptitudes and registered him with the Le Havre Art Schools in 1858 so that he could later go to Paris. Claude Monet moved to the French capital in 1862 and was soon taken under the wing of the Swiss painter Gleyre, who had been introduced to him by his parents.

The enriching meetings with Bazille, Lepic, Renoir and Sisley multiplied for Monet who started, with this small group of artists, to raise the stakes of the impressionist movement in their stronghold of the Brewery of the Martyrs. The discovery of Manet pushed Monet to paint "Lunch on the grass" inspired by the famous work of the former, but painted in nature. Monet never exhibited this painting at exhibition and it stayed rigour mortis in his studio. On the other hand he did exhibit some work at the 1866 exhibition including some views of the forest of Fontainebleau and a portrait of his future wife Camille Doncieux. Monet worked in Batignolles, in Bazille's workshop during his Parisian stay. He devoted more and more time to painting in the open air and used luminous nuances for his work.

Monet returned to Normandy in 1867 and painted the famous  "Terrasse at Sainte Addresse", still on show at the Metropolitan Museum. Sight trouble stopped his work in the open air and he soon went back to Paris where his son Jean has just been born. His presentations of paintings at fairs became more and more failures and he even started getting refusals to enter. At the time of the declaration of war of 1870, Monet took refuge in Le Havre then moved to London with his family. Daubigny introduced Durand-Ruel to him, who bought several paintings from him and thus improved his financial problems that had accumulated. The London period made it possible for Monet to discover Turner and the pictorial style of the English landscape artists. He then returned to France via Holland, which inspired several of his landscapes that you can admire at the museum D'Orsay, and moved to Argenteuil. Here he created a workshop on a boat and cruised the Seine searching for inspiration emanating from the natural landscape.

This "Argenteuil period" is regarded as the epitome of impressionism. The circle of Monet's artist friends - Renoir, Sisley, Manet, and Pissaro among others - met regularly to exchange ideas. This group of impressionists decided to have a joint exhibition at Nadar in 1874. The famous painting of Monet's 'Impression, Soleil Levant' or 'Rising sun' created in 1872 was shown there and was the basis of the term 'Impressionist' coined by Leroy - a journalist - who was being derisive of it. This painting is still on show today at the Marmottan Museum in Paris.





In spite of the efforts of Durand-Ruel, Monet's financial standing goes from bad to worse. Durand-Ruel organised multiple exhibitions from 1875 to 1877. Among them he presented the very famous views of the Saint Lazare Station (Museum D 'Orsay), whose architecture had captivated him at the 1877 exhibition.

Monet moved to Vétheuil, on the banks of the Seine, in 1878. Camille Doncieux soon had Monet's second son Michel. Unfortunately his wife died when Michel was one a year later. Monet isolated himself and continued working, exhibiting again at the 7th Impressionist Exhibition of 1882. Criticism greeted the landscapes and dead nature scenes he exposed. Durand-Ruel continued to organise several exhibitions of the impressionist group including locations abroad in: London, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Boston.

When once on a trip to the Cote d'Azur with Renoir, Monet got very enthusiastic about the southernmost landscapes and immortalised his stays at Menton and Bordighera by very intense pictorial compositions.
It was in 1883 that Monet moved to Giverny ...

The cantor of impressionism worked hard there to create a marvellous garden of flowers and a small Japanese bridge overhanging a pond full of water lilies. Sources of inspiration for the painter, the nymphea (water lilies) made the object a famous series of paintings. Monet exhibited a series of studies on water lilies in 1897 at George Petit. These water landscapes painted between 1904 and 1906 were exhibited by Durand-Ruel and received very favourable attention.
Monet built a large light and airy workshop in his garden to look further into the topic of the water lilies. Clemenceau called upon the painter in 1918 to be devoted to a great decoration of L 'Orangerie of Tileries - based on these pieces. Monet completed this masterpiece, as the organ piece to his career to supreme recognition before sadly dying on December 5th 1926.

The Giverny garden

Claude Monet's house, the collections and the garden were inherited by L'Académie de Beaux Arts (similar to the Arts Council in the UK). More than a century after Claude Monet moved to Giverny, a little village located 70 km from Paris, his house and its garden were restored to their former glory. The Claude Monet Foundation takes care of it now and the place remains a place of resplendent colours and beauty. In his day Claude Monet employed 5 full-time gardeners who modified the floral decorations in their own special way. Today there are 9 gardeners who maintain this attractive heritage. The garden of Giverny reveals the  "floral passion" which animated the painter and has many rare varieties for the aesthetic pleasure of the colours. Claude Monet's garden is actually composed of 2 gardens: The water garden, which we will take you through as the 4 seasons of the year, and the Norman Field.

The four seasons at Giverny

 
Spring

Spring covers the garden with some of its more beautiful nuances. Flowering is abundant there: Narcissi, Tulips, Hyacinths, Jonquils, Cherry trees and Apples, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, beginning of the Irises, Peonies, Geraniums, Daisies, Delphiniums ... This inventory is the measurement of the inexpressible beauty of the water garden in this season. The Japanese bridge integrates itself marvellously into this environment. Monet himself wrote of this profusion of colours.

 Summer

Autumn

Winter

Where is the Claude Monet Foundation? 

FOUNDATION CLAUDE MONET 84, Rue Claude Monet 27620 - Giverny - FRANCE Tel. +33 (0) 2 32 51 28 21 Fax: +33 (0) 2 32 51 54 18
E-mail: contact@fondation-monet.com Curator: Mrs. Gerald VAN DER KEMP Secretary-General: Mrs. TIME Claudette LINDSEY: The Foundation is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9. 30 to 18. 00. Exceptional opening on Bank Holiday Mondays.