Claude Monet and His Water Lilies: Seeking Solace in Art
Based, in part, on a Smithsonian Associates Lecture by Ross King.
It was artist Oscar Claude Monet (1840-1926), for whom critics first coined the term Impressionism after his painting Impressionism, soleil levant (sunrise) exhibited in the 1874 “exhibition of rejects” – artists rejected by the annual Salon. (The piece was priced at 1000 francs and failed to sell.)
Monet was a predominantly plein air (outdoors) painter perhaps best remembered for water lily images he created at his home in Giverny, France. First glimpsed by him in the Trocadero, the plants were special hybrids of white Normandy blooms with brightly colored samples from elsewhere.
Ross King’s excellent lecture concentrates on these works as a lens through which we see the icon’s life. “Usually if you’re a landscape painter, you find your subject,” he notes. Monet literally created his by extensive planting and digging an artificial pond that redirected water from a local river.
Claude Monet – The Water Lily Pond 1897 (Public Domain)
In 1883, when he moved from Paris, Giverny had a population of 250. He rented, then bought his home, adding additional land as possible. Photos almost always show him in a dapper suit and hat with a dangling cigarette, ashes of which are sometimes found embedded in art.
Despite the fact he worked in all weather, Monet was known for what Ross calls “relaxing art, sunshine and dappled landscapes.” Marcel Proust commented that his paintings were “celestial nourishment… heavenly pasturage… spiritually curative…” They created a calming influence. King will go on to talk about the artist’s rarely mentioned later life suffering.
Apparently the artist always drew. At 16, he became friends with landscape painter Eugéne Boudin who encouraged him to paint outdoors. The boy ignored his father’s wish that he go into business. Almost from the beginning, Monet would paint a subject several times in hopes of capturing ever changing light. His approach was somewhat like that of Giacometti who felt that what he observed shifted so quickly, many canvases and drawings appear to be sketches with line after overlapping line depicting moments.
Claude Monet Woman with Parasol-Camille and Jean Monet 1897 (Public Domain)
Monet married Camille, former mistress and mother to his first son, in 1870. Financially strapped, the family moved quite a bit. In Argenteuil, he painted a first series of gardens. It was then that a group of likeminded painters came together to put on their own art exhibition under the name the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers. Monet had the most public reputation.
By the time a second son was born, Camille was fatally ill. She died a year later. Having been abandoned and bankrupted by her husband, Alice Hoschede and her six children had been living with the Monets. Claude resolved to marry her, enlarging the family exponentially. (Eventually one of her daughters would marry one of his sons.) She turned out to be his great love.
Claude Monet Water Lilies 1916 (Public Domain)
Paul Cezanne was so enamored of his friend’s work, he bought 14 paintings. American Mrs. Palmer Potter would purchase 90, most donated to The Art Institute of Chicago. Mrs. William Havermeyer also collected extensively. The artist’s reputation spread internationally. He became a darling of The Gilded Age.
In Giverny, the family lived well with butler, cook, chauffeur, and six gardeners. Monet spent forty thousand francs a year maintaining his garden. He even paved a public road so that dust wouldn’t fall on water lilies. Galerie Durand-Ruel held an exhibition of 48 water lilies garnering remarkable reviews. Five Paris newspapers independently began campaigns to save them as a group for the nation, but Monet was a victim of his own success and the paintings were sold all over.
George Clemenceau and Claude Monet- Unknown Author 1921 (Public Domain)
When Alice passed, Monet was devastated. “The painter in me has died, all that’s left is the grieving husband,” he wrote declaring retirement. Painting, he said, made him suffer. Friends were alarmed fearing that if he stopped he too would die. It was best friend George Clemenceau, twice Prime Minister of France, now a newspaper owner, that convinced Monet not to give up his art. King tells us they were an interesting pair, Monet anxious, internal, inarticulate; Clemenceau charismatic, gregarious, intimidating.
Three years later, the artist began to lose his eyesight due to cataracts. He was sure he was going blind and began to fly into rages with little provocation. On those occasions, the painter would check into a hotel to spare the family. Subsequent operations only partially alleviated the problem. Light and color became even more important. Monet would sometimes work on several canvases side by side attempting to capture changes.
When WWI began, he said, “As for me, I shall stay here regardless, and if these barbarians wish to kill me, I shall die among my canvases, in front of my life’s work.” Giverny emptied. War came close. Son Jean died early, son Michel survived Verdun. Alice’s daughter Blanche came to live with and take care of her step-father.
Monet in his studio 1927 – Unknown Author (Public Domain)
A separate studio for larger work was built. (It’s now the Giverny gift shop.) It would serve as sufficient space to create what’s called the Grande Decoration, The Agapanthus Triptych each work 6 ½’ high, 14’ long. The artist envisioned a number of these exhibited in the same space. He created as many as 50 compositions on a scale that somewhat compensated for diminishing vision.
Armistice Day, Monet decided to donate two of these to the French State. “It’s the only way I can take part in victory,” he wrote. Clemenceau traveled to Giverny and requested more canvases. “Once you’ve realized your dream, what happens to you?” King asks. After 1920, the artist fell apart. Full of doubts, he kept painting and repainting the same works. “When I’m dead, I’ll find their imperfections more bearable,” he said. Colors and balances were disturbed. Sulfurous yellows and blood reds crept into the work.
Claude Monet – Japanese Bridge 1918 Musée Marmottan (Public Domain)
Monet died in 1926 with Clemenceau at his side. Twenty-two canvases were taken by the state and initially hung at L’Orangerie in Paris just as Monet had envisioned. The reviews arrived scathing. Clemenceau was heartbroken. What one generation finds appalling, the next will love. By the 1940s, the works were considered masterpieces.
Over 3000 paintings by Monet exist. He destroyed at least 500. Few new works are discovered. When something surfaces it has to pass muster with creators of the Catalogue raisonné, the Wildenstein Organization who are reticent to acknowledge anything beyond their record.
A terrific lecture.
Opening: Left- Claude Monet by Nadar 1899 (Public Domain; Right- Claude Monet- Nymphéas effet du soir Musée Marmottan (Public Domain)
Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies by Ross King
Ceux de Chez Nous a 1915 film by Sasha Guitry including footage of Monet
