Should Claude Monet’s remains be moved to the Panthéon in Paris?

President Sarkozy of France is said to be considering whether Claude Monet’s remains should be removed from the church cemetery in Giverny to the Panthéon in Paris.

The Panthéon (the name derives from an ancient Greek word meaning ‘every god’), located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, is the chosen burial place for France’s national heroes, and currently includes the likes of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, Pierre and Marie Curie, to name but a few. An act of Parliament is required for a person’s remains to be interred therein, the last person person being Alexandre Dumas whose remains were reburied in 2002.

It was former President Chirac, Sarkozy’s predecessor, who promised the leading Monet scholar Daniel Wildenstein that he would have the artists remains to the Panthéon. His Culture Minister was not as enthusiastic, suggesting that Claude Monet should remain in Giverny close to his much visited house and gardens. And the issue was closed. But now President Sarkozy has now revived the idea.

Cynics suggest the revival of this issue is nothing more than a response to the hot water Sarkozy got himself into for suggesting that the remains of Albert Camus should be moved into the Panthéon. Left-wing politicians were not happy with what they said was the President’s ‘body snatching’ of one of their heroes.

Those who want to see Monet’s remains moved to Paris to rest alongside other French heroes point out that there are no artists of Monet’s calibre buried in the Panthéon. Claude Monet did after all influence a whole generation of artists.