From Vétheuil to Giverny
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Monet France Landscape
Chronology : 19th century 1888 1890-1899 1890 1892
See also : Monet France Landscape
Chronology : 19th century 1888 1890-1899 1890 1892
1881 Alice au Jardin
2014 SOLD for $ 34M by Sotheby's
The untimely death of Camille in 1879 rushes Alice Hoschedé into the arms of Monet.
In 1881 he features Alice in the garden of Vétheuil. He remembers the time when the white dress of Camille was expressing purity. Alice is quietly sewing in a rich surrounding of foliage. The sunlight filtering through a large tree provides a continuity in texture between the green and the woman in light blue.
This oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was sold for $ 34M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 29.
That year marks the peak and the end of the first impressionist period of Monet. He is watched by scandal when he can no longer hide his affair with Alice, a married woman. In the following year, his long lonesome trip in Normandy makes him wish to express the variations of light in the landscape at various times of the day.
Monet moved further away from Paris. He settled in 1883 in Giverny with Alice and the eight children of this recomposed family. The difficult period that followed the death of Camille is finally over. Claude married Alice in 1892, after the death of Hoschedé.
In 1881 he features Alice in the garden of Vétheuil. He remembers the time when the white dress of Camille was expressing purity. Alice is quietly sewing in a rich surrounding of foliage. The sunlight filtering through a large tree provides a continuity in texture between the green and the woman in light blue.
This oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was sold for $ 34M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 29.
That year marks the peak and the end of the first impressionist period of Monet. He is watched by scandal when he can no longer hide his affair with Alice, a married woman. In the following year, his long lonesome trip in Normandy makes him wish to express the variations of light in the landscape at various times of the day.
Monet moved further away from Paris. He settled in 1883 in Giverny with Alice and the eight children of this recomposed family. The difficult period that followed the death of Camille is finally over. Claude married Alice in 1892, after the death of Hoschedé.
1888 Le Moulin de Limetz
2023 SOLD for $ 25.6M by Sotheby's
Limetz is a rural village on the junction of the Epte and the Seine rivers. Its grain mill is a non-significant building behind a stone bridge about one and a half kilometers away from Monet's home.
In 1888, back from his trip in south France, Monet executed two similar paintings in oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm of the mill of Limetz, in the same scale from the same viewpoint, differentiated by the color palette, probably executed simultaneously in Summer. This pair anticipates the great series of the 1890s.
The artist desired to express the dense foliage of the willow tree beside the rippling water, while the downsized mill blurred by the Impressionist touch is hardly visible. Monet's nature is made of light, air and water.
These views served to Monet to reassess his allegiance to the impressionism after some criticism had been raised against his 'decorative' views of south France.
One of the pictures expresses a warm light through the foliage. It is painted in a thick impasto. Within a dominant green, the dazzling array of colors includes blue, violet, flashes of emerald green, pastel pink and cream. The reflections in the river displayed in another range of exquisite colors in blue, green, white and pink anticipate the views of the Giverny pond in the next century.
It was sold for $ 21.7M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 8 B, in part to benefit the future acquisitions by the Nelson-Atkins museum in Kansas City. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The other view of the Moulin de Limetz is luminous with bursts of red within a symphony of greens, purples and pinks. The tree is in a cool shadow.
It was sold for $ 25.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 13. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In 1888, back from his trip in south France, Monet executed two similar paintings in oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm of the mill of Limetz, in the same scale from the same viewpoint, differentiated by the color palette, probably executed simultaneously in Summer. This pair anticipates the great series of the 1890s.
The artist desired to express the dense foliage of the willow tree beside the rippling water, while the downsized mill blurred by the Impressionist touch is hardly visible. Monet's nature is made of light, air and water.
These views served to Monet to reassess his allegiance to the impressionism after some criticism had been raised against his 'decorative' views of south France.
One of the pictures expresses a warm light through the foliage. It is painted in a thick impasto. Within a dominant green, the dazzling array of colors includes blue, violet, flashes of emerald green, pastel pink and cream. The reflections in the river displayed in another range of exquisite colors in blue, green, white and pink anticipate the views of the Giverny pond in the next century.
It was sold for $ 21.7M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 8 B, in part to benefit the future acquisitions by the Nelson-Atkins museum in Kansas City. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The other view of the Moulin de Limetz is luminous with bursts of red within a symphony of greens, purples and pinks. The tree is in a cool shadow.
It was sold for $ 25.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 13. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Meules
Intro
After the Impression Soleil Levant it took nearly two decades for Monet to jump to a still more decisive step, with the Meules.
He had been very active throughout that period. His paintings of the Gare St Lazare in 1877 constituted a series that displayed the variations in color depending on the intensity of sunlight and on the thickness of smoke from the trains. His solitary travel in Normandy in 1882 for comforting after the death of Camille is very important : Monet demonstrates to himself that lighting is better than topography for expressing a mood.
He had been very active throughout that period. His paintings of the Gare St Lazare in 1877 constituted a series that displayed the variations in color depending on the intensity of sunlight and on the thickness of smoke from the trains. His solitary travel in Normandy in 1882 for comforting after the death of Camille is very important : Monet demonstrates to himself that lighting is better than topography for expressing a mood.
1
1890 W1273 Meules
2019 SOLD for $ 110M by Sotheby's
Every year the grain stacks will remain alone in the middle of the fields as temporary semaphores that break until the wheat threshing of the spring the monotonous ground devoid of its plants by winter. They will be the suitable support for Monet to perform his observations of colors through all weather conditions and at all moments of time.
Monet loves this theme that is typical of country life without the need to add humans or birds. He begins at the end of summer 1890 with five landscapes in which two haystacks are distant from each other.
According to the sequence established by Wildenstein, the next sub-series is composed of two oil paintings on canvas 73 x 93 cm executed during the autumn of 1890. The alignment of two haystacks leads to the tall trees on the horizon, against the light in the last rays of sunset. For the first time the rest of the image is minimized. The predominance of the expression of colors over theme and form opens the way to modern art.
The second of these pictures, W1273, goes even further by managing to avoid the shadows of the two stacks. All that remains is the light that plays with the contours of stacks and trees and reveals the shimmering colors of the field. It was dated 1891 by the artist, certainly by reference to the year of the first public exhibition of the series, in the gallery of Durand-Ruel.
W1273 was sold for $ 110M from a lower estimate of $ 55M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2019, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Monet loves this theme that is typical of country life without the need to add humans or birds. He begins at the end of summer 1890 with five landscapes in which two haystacks are distant from each other.
According to the sequence established by Wildenstein, the next sub-series is composed of two oil paintings on canvas 73 x 93 cm executed during the autumn of 1890. The alignment of two haystacks leads to the tall trees on the horizon, against the light in the last rays of sunset. For the first time the rest of the image is minimized. The predominance of the expression of colors over theme and form opens the way to modern art.
The second of these pictures, W1273, goes even further by managing to avoid the shadows of the two stacks. All that remains is the light that plays with the contours of stacks and trees and reveals the shimmering colors of the field. It was dated 1891 by the artist, certainly by reference to the year of the first public exhibition of the series, in the gallery of Durand-Ruel.
W1273 was sold for $ 110M from a lower estimate of $ 55M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2019, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
An enduring symbol of Impressionism from Claude Monet's iconic Haystacks series will lead an important private collection of 8 Impressionist works on offer in #SothebysImpMod Evening Sale on 14 May in #NYC. Learn more: https://t.co/B4xVl8QWFA pic.twitter.com/SMDorfOowE
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) March 15, 2019
2
1891 W1290 Meule
2016 SOLD for $ 81M by Christie's
The deep nature of a landscape can no longer be expressed by a single snapshot. In this series which ends in January 1891 and totals 25 paintings, Monet has captured 25 moments of light of a wide variety : morning, evening, full sun, snow, mist. In the last pictures the color also comes to sublimate the perspective with the reduction of the theme to a single haystack..
Three of them have been specifically grouped as a ultimate achievement of the Meules in the catalogue raisonné prepared by Daniel Wildenstein. Only one stack is visible in front of a retracted landscape. It is truncated either from top or from one side. The color emotion is not challenged by that figurative feature reduced to nothing more than a bulky triangle. In 1896, in front of one of these paintings, Kandinsky was dazzled.
Another Meule from that group of three, oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1891, reference Wildenstein 1290 pictured at sunset, was sold for $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 11 1999 and for $ 81M by Christie's on November 16, 2016, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image below is shared by Wikimedia.
Three of them have been specifically grouped as a ultimate achievement of the Meules in the catalogue raisonné prepared by Daniel Wildenstein. Only one stack is visible in front of a retracted landscape. It is truncated either from top or from one side. The color emotion is not challenged by that figurative feature reduced to nothing more than a bulky triangle. In 1896, in front of one of these paintings, Kandinsky was dazzled.
Another Meule from that group of three, oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1891, reference Wildenstein 1290 pictured at sunset, was sold for $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 11 1999 and for $ 81M by Christie's on November 16, 2016, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image below is shared by Wikimedia.
1891 Peupliers au Bord de l'Epte
1
Automne W1297
2022 SOLD for $ 36.5M by Christie's
A stretch of poplars alongside the Epte river two kilometers upstream of his home inspired Claude Monet in the spring of 1891 with one of the most fruitful ideas of impressionist art. The sunny or cloudy weather, the time in the day, varied the feeling offered by this humble bucolic theme. The arabesque of the waterway elegantly brings a farther row of trees.
The artist created a first series of thirteen paintings, viewed from one single point angled to the left from the other bank of the river or from his bateau atelier. He was working on all these canvases in parallel, changing the palette for the whole variety of light through the trees.
His working day was punctiliously managed without fancy, as he will do in London in the next decade. He was often accompanied by his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé. The canvases were carried in wheelbarrow from his home two kilometers away.
The tall trees of the nearer row are reflected in the foreground water. The decorative pattern of their regularly spaced vertical trunks was possibly influenced by Japanese woodcuts. The banality of the horizon made suitable the vertical format for this scenery viewed upwards.
The largest opus from that set, oil on canvas 117 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 22.5M by Christie's on May 4, 2011, lot 16. It is in its original condition, having never been varnished.
During summer Monet had to purchase temporarily these fully grown trees for avoiding their falling before he completed his series.
Monet made in the fall a second series of eleven views of the Peupliers, showing the variety of seasons in a overall total of 24.
Peupliers au bord de l'Epte, automne, oil on canvas 100 x 66 cm painted in 1891, was sold for $ 36.5M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 11C. The image is shared by Wikimedia. This piece displays the beautiful reddish gold of the autumn leaves.
After this exciting self training, the artist was ready for his systematic study of light effects on the cathedral of Rouen which amazed all art lovers in 1892.
The artist created a first series of thirteen paintings, viewed from one single point angled to the left from the other bank of the river or from his bateau atelier. He was working on all these canvases in parallel, changing the palette for the whole variety of light through the trees.
His working day was punctiliously managed without fancy, as he will do in London in the next decade. He was often accompanied by his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé. The canvases were carried in wheelbarrow from his home two kilometers away.
The tall trees of the nearer row are reflected in the foreground water. The decorative pattern of their regularly spaced vertical trunks was possibly influenced by Japanese woodcuts. The banality of the horizon made suitable the vertical format for this scenery viewed upwards.
The largest opus from that set, oil on canvas 117 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 22.5M by Christie's on May 4, 2011, lot 16. It is in its original condition, having never been varnished.
During summer Monet had to purchase temporarily these fully grown trees for avoiding their falling before he completed his series.
Monet made in the fall a second series of eleven views of the Peupliers, showing the variety of seasons in a overall total of 24.
Peupliers au bord de l'Epte, automne, oil on canvas 100 x 66 cm painted in 1891, was sold for $ 36.5M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 11C. The image is shared by Wikimedia. This piece displays the beautiful reddish gold of the autumn leaves.
After this exciting self training, the artist was ready for his systematic study of light effects on the cathedral of Rouen which amazed all art lovers in 1892.
2
Temps Couvert W1299
2023 SOLD for $ 31M by Sotheby's
A view of the poplars in cloudy weather was made in a nearly square format 92 x 81 cm. This oil on canvas painted in 1891 was sold for $ 31M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 15, The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1892 Le Portail (Soleil)
2000 SOLD for $ 24M by Sotheby's
The achievement by Monet with his Meules series in the winter 1890-1891 is a breakthrough. He now desires to concentrate in the instantaneous effects of light, ever changed by season, weather and hour. Les Peupliers, painted outdoor near his home in 1891, is the first experiment in which he offers different views taken from the same exact viewpoint.
Monet dedicates most of 1892 to the facade of the Cathédrale de Rouen. He will rework his paintings in the meantime between his visits and afterward until 1894. He selected his 20 preferred opuses for an exhibition by Durand-Ruel in 1895.
In his first visit in Rouen, he takes two views from the street. The rest will not be a homogeneous series but four sub-series successively taken from the window of different apartments or shops.
The artist is demanding. For Le portail vu de face, only one painting was completed. An unfinished Etude, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 1M by Christie's on May 9, 2001, lot 2.
The next stay is a great demonstrator of the new conception of the series. The subject is the changing light on the stone of the portal from midday to twilight, with only a limited area left to the sky. Le Portail (Soleil), oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is arguably the most luminous of the series beside the other example kept at the Met. It was sold for $ 24M by Sotheby's on May 10, 2000, lot 15. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
From the next sub-series, Le Portail (Plein Soleil), oil on canvas 106 x 73 cm dated 1894 after completion by the artist, was sold for £ 7.6M by Christie's on June 26, 1995, lot 10.
Monet dedicates most of 1892 to the facade of the Cathédrale de Rouen. He will rework his paintings in the meantime between his visits and afterward until 1894. He selected his 20 preferred opuses for an exhibition by Durand-Ruel in 1895.
In his first visit in Rouen, he takes two views from the street. The rest will not be a homogeneous series but four sub-series successively taken from the window of different apartments or shops.
The artist is demanding. For Le portail vu de face, only one painting was completed. An unfinished Etude, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 1M by Christie's on May 9, 2001, lot 2.
The next stay is a great demonstrator of the new conception of the series. The subject is the changing light on the stone of the portal from midday to twilight, with only a limited area left to the sky. Le Portail (Soleil), oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is arguably the most luminous of the series beside the other example kept at the Met. It was sold for $ 24M by Sotheby's on May 10, 2000, lot 15. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
From the next sub-series, Le Portail (Plein Soleil), oil on canvas 106 x 73 cm dated 1894 after completion by the artist, was sold for £ 7.6M by Christie's on June 26, 1995, lot 10.
1893 Meules à Giverny
2024 SOLD for $ 35M by Sotheby's
Countryside life is a delight for Monet. During the cold 1885 winter, his observation of frost leads to a direct interpretation of the changing colors of nature.
Then comes the summer. Claude and Alice enjoy to finish the day in the meadow separated from their garden by a brook lined with poplars. The harvest is performed and the haystacks are awaiting to enter into the barn.
On May 14, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 16.4M an oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm dated 1885, lot 15C. The composition is balanced, as always. A shadow is approaching the foot of the sun drenched stacks. In this soft shadow, halfway between the position of the artist and the poplars, the woman and three young children transform this peaceful landscape into a scene of intimate happiness.
Interestingly, Monet does not represent people at work in the fields. When he starts working by series in the later 1880s, nature modified by man or by himself and monuments become his only interests. Even his beloved family ceases to be staged in his pictures, with very rare exceptions such as a Blanche peignant in 1893. Also no more dog or bird.
The series of the Cathédrales de Rouen make Monet busy from 1892 to 1894. Desiring to take a rest, he goes back in 1893 for a series of three at hay season in La Prairie, the same meadow which he had painted in 1885. He had purchased it in the mean time with his breakthrough project to create a water garden, to become the bassin aux nymphéas.
The three canvases have the same composition centered by a single haystack in a harvested field. Far away through a row of trees that borders the brook, a group of other haystacks stand in their field. Monet uses small, rhythmic jerky brushstrokes for that daylight effect, a technique inspired by his rendering of the stone of the cathedral.
A sunny scenery, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 35M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2024, lot 11. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Then comes the summer. Claude and Alice enjoy to finish the day in the meadow separated from their garden by a brook lined with poplars. The harvest is performed and the haystacks are awaiting to enter into the barn.
On May 14, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 16.4M an oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm dated 1885, lot 15C. The composition is balanced, as always. A shadow is approaching the foot of the sun drenched stacks. In this soft shadow, halfway between the position of the artist and the poplars, the woman and three young children transform this peaceful landscape into a scene of intimate happiness.
Interestingly, Monet does not represent people at work in the fields. When he starts working by series in the later 1880s, nature modified by man or by himself and monuments become his only interests. Even his beloved family ceases to be staged in his pictures, with very rare exceptions such as a Blanche peignant in 1893. Also no more dog or bird.
The series of the Cathédrales de Rouen make Monet busy from 1892 to 1894. Desiring to take a rest, he goes back in 1893 for a series of three at hay season in La Prairie, the same meadow which he had painted in 1885. He had purchased it in the mean time with his breakthrough project to create a water garden, to become the bassin aux nymphéas.
The three canvases have the same composition centered by a single haystack in a harvested field. Far away through a row of trees that borders the brook, a group of other haystacks stand in their field. Monet uses small, rhythmic jerky brushstrokes for that daylight effect, a technique inspired by his rendering of the stone of the cathedral.
A sunny scenery, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 35M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2024, lot 11. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1897 Matinée sur la Seine
2017 SOLD for $ 23.4 by Christie's
Claude Monet is obsessed with the most subtle variations in colors. The nearby river of his Giverny property offers the total tranquility needed for his unprecedented experiences. With the series of Peupliers in 1891, he installs several easels in parallel and passes from one canvas to another according to the modifications of the light.
Les Peupliers, like Les Meules in 1890-1891 and Les Cathédrales de Rouen completed in 1894, address all the hours of the day, offering contrasts between the paintings of the series. The success of these three sets is considerable with the public but the aesthetic result cannot fully satisfy the demanding artist.
During the summer of 1896 Monet gets up every day at 3:30am, operates up to 14 canvases in parallel with the help of an assistant always at the same place in an anchored punt at the confluence of the Epte and the Seine rivers, paints in contre-jour the mists when they dissipate at sunrise and leaves for the rest of the day. The title of the series is Matinée sur la Seine.
Some paintings are slightly panoramic but others are square, which is bold for a landscape. The angle of the views is invariable. Most of the scenery is still in the shadow while the sky is already bright.
He has no luck with weather in that first year. Summer and the beginning of autumn are very rainy. He finishes only four paintings at the end of this season. One of them, 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 20.5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2018, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The poor weather brings soft contrasts without saturating the shadows.
Monet returned to the same river bank in 1897 without changing anything in his creative process from the previous year, bringing the total of the Matinées to 22 paintings. One of them is dated 1898.
An example on which the sun rays are just reaching the trees in the background, also 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 23.4M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 26A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Painted in 1897, an oil on canvas 82 x 92 cm from the Matinée sur la Seine series is subtitled Temps net, meaning without mist or fog. It was sold for £ 14.4M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Les Peupliers, like Les Meules in 1890-1891 and Les Cathédrales de Rouen completed in 1894, address all the hours of the day, offering contrasts between the paintings of the series. The success of these three sets is considerable with the public but the aesthetic result cannot fully satisfy the demanding artist.
During the summer of 1896 Monet gets up every day at 3:30am, operates up to 14 canvases in parallel with the help of an assistant always at the same place in an anchored punt at the confluence of the Epte and the Seine rivers, paints in contre-jour the mists when they dissipate at sunrise and leaves for the rest of the day. The title of the series is Matinée sur la Seine.
Some paintings are slightly panoramic but others are square, which is bold for a landscape. The angle of the views is invariable. Most of the scenery is still in the shadow while the sky is already bright.
He has no luck with weather in that first year. Summer and the beginning of autumn are very rainy. He finishes only four paintings at the end of this season. One of them, 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 20.5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2018, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The poor weather brings soft contrasts without saturating the shadows.
Monet returned to the same river bank in 1897 without changing anything in his creative process from the previous year, bringing the total of the Matinées to 22 paintings. One of them is dated 1898.
An example on which the sun rays are just reaching the trees in the background, also 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 23.4M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 26A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Painted in 1897, an oil on canvas 82 x 92 cm from the Matinée sur la Seine series is subtitled Temps net, meaning without mist or fog. It was sold for £ 14.4M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1897-1899 Nymphéas
2024 SOLD for HK$ 233M by Christie's.
Monet is an amateur but careful and skilled gardener. He visits the booth of the horticulturist Latour-Marliac at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889.
A specialist in bamboos and other aquatic plants, Latour-Marliac is a skilled hybridizer. He was the first in Western Europe to create colored nenuphars by crossbreeding the usual white blossomed plants with wild species.
In 1893, when Monet obtains the administrative authorization to create a water garden in his estate at Giverny, he already knows that it will be a laboratory for his artistic creation. He was then interested in the reflections of the tall trees in water and in his Japanese bridge.
In 1894 he purchases from Latour-Marliac plants from 32 different species including a yellow Nymphaea created in 1888 and a pink Nymphaea created in 1892. His interest in these hybrids is not immediate but his curiosity increases.
As for painting, the small series of four Massif de chrysanthèmes is a breakthrough, in 1897. The top down view in close up eliminates the horizon for a full vertical filling of the flower bed in brilliant colors without peripheral details or perspective effect. An oil on canvas 130 x 89 cm was sold for £ 8.3M by Sotheby's on March 2, 2022, lot 118.
A visitor observed that Monet wants as many flowers in his garden as a space can hold. He also wants to look at them all year round, always present but ever changing.
Monet paints his first Nymphéas in 1897 also, displaying the plants on the water in close-up with a botanical accuracy, also as a top down view without a horizon. That first Nymphéas series is made of eight paintings executed between 1897 and 1899.
An oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm features two waterlily blossoms in brilliant white on the surface of the pond rendered in a mingling of blues, violets, indigos for the water and deep greens and turquoises for the plants. It was sold for HK $ 233M from a lower estimate of HK $ 200M by Christie's on September 26, 2024, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
A specialist in bamboos and other aquatic plants, Latour-Marliac is a skilled hybridizer. He was the first in Western Europe to create colored nenuphars by crossbreeding the usual white blossomed plants with wild species.
In 1893, when Monet obtains the administrative authorization to create a water garden in his estate at Giverny, he already knows that it will be a laboratory for his artistic creation. He was then interested in the reflections of the tall trees in water and in his Japanese bridge.
In 1894 he purchases from Latour-Marliac plants from 32 different species including a yellow Nymphaea created in 1888 and a pink Nymphaea created in 1892. His interest in these hybrids is not immediate but his curiosity increases.
As for painting, the small series of four Massif de chrysanthèmes is a breakthrough, in 1897. The top down view in close up eliminates the horizon for a full vertical filling of the flower bed in brilliant colors without peripheral details or perspective effect. An oil on canvas 130 x 89 cm was sold for £ 8.3M by Sotheby's on March 2, 2022, lot 118.
A visitor observed that Monet wants as many flowers in his garden as a space can hold. He also wants to look at them all year round, always present but ever changing.
Monet paints his first Nymphéas in 1897 also, displaying the plants on the water in close-up with a botanical accuracy, also as a top down view without a horizon. That first Nymphéas series is made of eight paintings executed between 1897 and 1899.
An oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm features two waterlily blossoms in brilliant white on the surface of the pond rendered in a mingling of blues, violets, indigos for the water and deep greens and turquoises for the plants. It was sold for HK $ 233M from a lower estimate of HK $ 200M by Christie's on September 26, 2024, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
masterpiece
1900 Jardin de l'Artiste à Giverny
Musée d'Orsay
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
