Claude Monet
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Musée Marmottan - 27th April to 31st December 2000 and
Monet 'il maestro della luce'
Rome until 25th June 2000,
see also Musée d'Orsay

When you are in the presence of Monet's paintings — symphonic homages to Nature, yes this nature that has been so mistreated, so wounded, so profaned since his time — you are so thoroughly immersed in the calm and serene landscapes, the deep reflections of his water-lilies, that you don't think of the boundaries he had to push back to break free.
Monet refused to paint in the accepted manner. He refused to go to the Academy to learn to paint (preferring Eugène Boudin as his teacher, or the lesser-known Swiss Academy); he refused to copy the Louvre masters (preferring Delacroix); and he refused also to paint in his atelier (he had faith only in the immediacy and truth of outdoor painting). As a result, he was systematically refused at the Salons — the only way for an artist to gain recognition and to make a living out of his art.

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