Monet in the 20th Century September 20, 1998 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
From the age of 60 until his death at age 86, Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) produced an extraordinary body of work.
A carefully selected group of more than 80 of these remarkable paintings, now scattered throughout the world,
will be brought together for the first time to form Monet in the 20th Century.
In recent years, several exhibitions have been devoted to this pioneer of Impressionism. Until now, however, no
attempt has been made to examine the rich and diverse body of Monet's late work in a thorough and historically
accurate manner. Monet in the 20th Century is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the critical shifts in
Monet's style, subject matter and working methods during the turbulent opening decades of the 20th century.
Organization and Sponsorship
TOUR
Monet in the 20th Century premieres at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, its only U.S. venue, on September 20,
1998, and is on view through December 27, 1998. The exhibition will then travel to the Royal Academy of Arts,
London, where it will be on view from January 21 - April 18, 1999.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
Building on the overwhelming success of his series paintings of the 1890s, from 1900 onward, Monet devoted
himself to a limited range of motifs, rendering these subjects in endlessly fascinating variations.
Monet in the 20th Century features: Monet's early views of his gardens at Giverny, with a concentration on the
Japanese Bridge paintings of 1900 views of London (1900 - 1904) and Venice (1908) a partial recreation of Monet's
stunning Water Lily exhibition of 1909, featuring more than 20 canvases from 1903 - 1908 extraordinary views of
the water-lily pond from 1914 - 1918, painted in Monet's new bold style later, more abstract views of the Weeping
Willow and Japanese Bridge an astonishing gathering of the enormous Water Lily murals painted between 1919 -1926,
some measuring more than 18 feet in length -- this grouping includes the magnificent The Water-Lily Pond
(1919-26, courtesy of Galerie Larock Granoff, Paris. W. 1966-67), which has never previously been on public
exhibition.
EXHIBITION INSTALLATION
Monet in the 20th Century begins in the grand Charles C. Cunningham Gallery at the center of the MFA's Evans
Wing. It then proceeds through a series of skylit galleries and continues through the Gund Gallery. Monet in the
20th Century utilizes the largest amount of continuous wall space ever used for an exhibition at the Museum. The
exhibition space totals 14,632 square feet.
CURATORS
Monet in the 20th Century has drawn upon the expertise of some of the world's preeminent Monet scholars. The
exhibition is guest-curated by world-renowned Monet authority, Paul Hayes Tucker, Professor, University of
Massachusetts Boston; organizing curators are George T. M. Shackelford, Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of European
Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and MaryAnne Stevens, Education Secretary and Chief Curator, Royal Academy
of Arts, London. The exhibition also draws upon the expertise of Professor John House of the Courtauld Institute
in London, who is a contributor to the catalogue and has been a consultant to the exhibition.
MONET + BOSTON
Claude Monet and the city of Boston have been closely connected for more than a century. Since the 1890s, Monet's
work has been showcased in exhibitions organized by private clubs as well as museums in Boston. The first
American museum-sponsored exhibition of Monet's work during his lifetime opened at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston in 1911. In 1927, only months after Monet's death, the MFA paid tribute to his memory with a major
retrospective of his painting - the first and most important commemorative event held in the artist's honor
anywhere in the world.
BIOGRAPHY OF CLAUDE MONET
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) was born in Paris on November 14, 1840, the second son of a small-business man. At age
five, Monet moved with his family to the town of Le Havre on the coast of Normandy, at the mouth of the Seine. As
a young teenager, he developed a reputation as a caricaturist, and soon thereafter became the pupil of landscape
artist Eugéne Boudin.
Monet's earliest known painting dates to 1858. Over the course of his 86 years, he created more than 2,000
paintings. He therefore produced an average of 30 paintings a year, which equals one every 12 days for 68 years.
This figure becomes even more remarkable when we consider that he did not paint anything during various periods
throughout his life. He also wrote more than 3,000 letters and made more than 500 drawings.
Most of Monet's later years were spent at Giverny, a small town near the Seine approximately 40 miles west of
Paris, where he settled in 1883. His first wife, Camille, had died in 1879. His second wife, Alice Hoschedé,
lived with him at Giverny with her children; and they married in 1892. One of Monet's great loves at Giverny was
his garden. In 1893, he constructed his water garden, expanding it in 1901 and again in 1903. By the early years
of the 20th century, his flower garden contained hundreds of thousands of flowers and required the attention of
five full-time gardeners. Monet once claimed that if he had not become a painter he would have been a botanist.
He also said flowers inspired him to paint in the first place.
By 1900 he was well established and hailed as France's leading landscape painter. Over the course of the
remaining 26 years of his life, Monet staged only four exhibitions: a selection of recent paintings in 1900,
London: The Thames in 1904, Water Lilies: Landscapes of Water in 1909, and Venice in 1912. Each of these
exhibitions was a critical success.
From 1900 to his death in 1926, Monet saw the rise of many avant-garde movements: Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, and
Surrealism to name a few. He also lost many friends during these years including fellow artists Camille Pissarro
(1903), Paul Cézanne (1906), Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin (1917), and Auguste Renoir (1919).
During World War I, Monet stayed in Giverny, claiming he would rather die in front of his life's work than flee
in the face of the German invasion. He demonstrated his patriotism by supplying vegetables to a local hospital
for the wounded and donating numerous works of art to patriotic causes.
Monet's greatest patriotic gesture came on November 12, 1918, the day after Armistice, when he offered to donate
two paintings to France in honor of the victory. This offer became the basis for his eventual gift of 22
decorative panels depicting his water lily garden, installed in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris in 1927.
Monet began to experience eye problems in 1912 and was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes. He did nothing
about his condition until 1923, when he had the cataract in his left eye surgically removed. In spite of his
illness, Monet was able to create a body of paintings that demonstrate the clarity of his artistic vision and his
mastery of the painter's craft.
Monet died on December 5, 1926 and was buried in Giverny next to his wife, Alice. The ceremony was conducted with
little fanfare but was widely covered in the press. In 1927, only months after his death, the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston paid tribute to his memory with a major retrospective of his paintings -- the first, and most
important commemorative event held in the artist's honor anywhere in the world.
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