Monet of the Day: Garden at Sainte-Adresse
Submitted by Evelyn Kiefer on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 18:00.
Claude Monet's paintings are pretty. For this reason some people love his work and other dismiss it as decorative and superficial. "Monet in Normandy", the exhibition on now at the Cleveland Museum of Art, brings us over 50 works by one of the world's best known painters and presents them in an intellectual manner that may even make you see those water lily tote bags and umbrellas in a different light.
Here are a just a few things you might not have know about Monet. His work was incredibly daring in style and composition. He was influenced by Japanese prints. He was a courageous artist; he sometimes risked his life to paint remote landscapes. He was a very talented and innovative gardener. He was incredibly hard working and prolific.
This exhbition is the first to thoroughly study his work in the context of the Normandy region of France.
I will be posting more works and more info.
|
Printer-friendly version
There are over 2,000 Monet paintings
I heard an interview the other day with a woman from the Cleveland area who is trying to see in person as many Monets as possible - she said there are over 1,000 in museums and 1,000 in private collections. While nothing like the scale of Warhol, this is still pretty prolific. Can you think of any other pre-modern painters who have over 2,000 paintings in collections.
Disrupt IT
Behind the scenes in The Garden at Sainte-Adresse
This painting held deep personal meaning for the young Claude Monet. This garden, not just any scenic place in the stylish Normandy resort town of Sainte-Adresse, belonged to Monet's Aunt Sophie Lecadre. She was one of the wealthy residents who had recently built lovely villas in what was once only a modest fishing village. On a clear sunny day on a flower filled terrace overlooking the English Chanel, one might assume the figures in this painting (Monet's relatives) are care free, but this was a time of tension and scandal for the Monets. In spring of this year (1867) Monet's father found out that his son's young model and mistress, Camille Doncieux was pregnant. Monet's father demanded he abandon Camille and join the family in Sainte-Adresse. An impoverished bohemian artist and also a dutiful son, Monet complied and left Camille living in Paris with friends where she gave birth to their son, Jean. Monet must have felt conflicted as he spent the summer with his domineering wealthy family painting the beautiful landscape of Sainte-Adresse. Monet and Camille eventually married three years later.