Opening Tomorrow at the Grand Palais, Paris: Claude Monet

Please Note: This exhibition has now ended. If you are visiting Paris and would like to see Monet’s art, click here for my >> Paris Impressionist Guide … for all the information about Monet and the other French Impressionists in Paris.

Claude Monet, 1878, The Rue Montorgueil in Paris. Celebration of June 30, 1878. Oil on Canvas 81 cm x 50 cm. © Musée d’Orsay.

Today, on the eve of what is being billed as one of the most significant art exhibitions in Paris for years, it is hard to imagine that the artist in the spotlight was once dismissed by the very nation that now holds him up as a national hero. Tomorrow, 22 September 2010, is the opening at the Grand Palais in Paris of the first major retrospective in thirty years of Claude Monet’s work.

Today Nicholas Sarkozy, the President of France, in a Foreword to the exhibition catalogue describes Claude Monet as “unmistakable emblem of the international influence of French culture”. Nearly 150 years ago, art critics scoffed at Monet and his friends’ new style, calling it “delusional”. Prominently displayed in the retrospective then is Monet’s Rue Montorgueil (above), a painting that depicts the celebrations at the end of the World Fair of 1878 and demonstrates French nationalist and republican enthusiasm of the time.

The Monet exhibition in Paris is expected to break all attendance records – which is not surprising really given that no movement in the history of Western art is more popular than Impressionism. A movement of art for which Claude Monet is widely regarded as its father.

With nearly 160 of Monet’s oil paintings on exhibit, this exhibit is by far the biggest collection of his paintings bought together in one exhibition. Sadly, because of institutional rivalries, some of Monet’s iconic images will be missing from the exhibition – including the painting that gave its name to the movement, i.e. the painting of the Le Havre harbour at sun rise, Impressionism, soleil levant (below).

To see those ‘missing’ paintings – go to Musée Marmottan Monet, where from 7 October 2010 – 20 February 2011 their entire collection will be on display for the first time ever.

These paintings aside, the Monet exhibition in Paris is a must for anyone with even the remotest interest Impressionist art.

Visiting Paris? See my Paris Impressionist Guide, where you will find information on other Impressionist-related sites and museums in the French capital.

It is no longer possible to buy ticket for this exhibition online. You can, however, buy tickets online for what I believe is a much better exhibition at the Musée Marmottan Monet, also in Paris, the museum that has the World’s biggest collection of Monet’s paintings and drawings. For more information, and a link to buy tickets, click here: Monet at the Musée Marmottan, Paris.

Opening times:
Friday to Monday 9h to 22h,
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 10h à 22h,
Thursday 10h à 20h
Last access – 45 minutes before closing
24 and 31 December 2010 – the exhibition shuts at 18h
25 December 2010 – the exhibition is closed

Entry Fee 12€
Reduced to 9€ for people aged between 13 and 25, and unemployed

Would you like to take a 5 day guided tour of Monet’s Normandy, while staying in a luxury B&B? Now is your last chance this year to see Monet’s garden in Giverny, and then visit the two Monet exhibitions in Paris, as well as some of the other landscapes and cityscapes in Normandy the Impressionist artists painted … Guided Tours of Monet’s Normandy.

Buy a copy of the Catalgue online – cheaper than at the gallery.

Need a hotel? click here for best deals on Paris hotels.