Honfleur is a quaint seaside town on the Normandy coast. It is a popular tourist attraction today, and deservedly so. There are traditional narrow, cobble-stone streets that are still lined with old timber-frame houses that lead away from a 17th Century harbour. A wonderful setting for a few days holiday, or a great day out. Monet was also inspired by Honfleur, and that part of the Normandy coast. [Read more →]

It was in Paris that a young Claude Monet met other like minded artists, a group that would go on to create what is generally accepted to be the most popular styles of art, that is Impressionism. It is only fitting then that for Monet fans visiting Paris today there are now some of the best permanent collections of his work on show. The three museums not to miss are the Musée de l’Orangerie, Musée d’Orsay and Musée Marmottan Monet. [Read more →]

Claude Monet, Poppy Field (Giverny). 1890-91. Oil on canvas. 24 1/16″ x 36 5/8″ (61.2 x 93.1 cm). © Kimball Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago.

Claude Monet is not only well known for his paintings of the water lilies on the ponds he created in his Garden at Giverny, he also painted numerous fields of poppies, while living in Argenteuil and later in Giverny. No visit to Giverny in June or July should miss the many poppy fields surrounding the village. [Read more →]

The Grand Palais in Paris will host a major exhibition of Claude Monet’s art from September 22, 2010 to January 24, 2011.

The first major exhibition of Claude Monet’s work in over 30 years will take place at the Grand Palais in Paris from September 22, 2010 to January 24, 2011. It has been reported that there will be over 200 paintings on display from both French and foreign museums. [Read more →]

Claude Monet. The Church at Vétheuil. 1878. Oil on canvas. 65 cm x 56 cm. © National Galleries of Scotland.

In 1878, Claude Monet moved his family to Vétheuil, a small village on the Seine River to the west of Paris. When they moved to the village, Monet’s wife Camille was already seriously ill, and she was to die there the following year. Camille Doncieux is buried in the old cemetery in Vétheuil. Monet stayed on in the town until 1881. While there he painted over a hundred canvases of the village, the Seine and the Church. These paintings are now spread all over the world, such as the one above which is now in Scotland.

Monet painted the Romanesque church in Vétheuil quite frequently. He was not attracted to its appearance or anything particular about its architecture, but rather the effects of light on its façade at different times of the day, at different times of the year. Monet would return to the painting of ecclesiastical façades, in particular the Rouen Cathedral, in the 1890s.

If you fancy renting a holiday home in Vétheuil, you are in luck – the house to the right of this scene is available on a weekly basis in Spring and Summer, click here for more details: Holiday Rental Accommodation, Vétheuil. This would be a perfect base to visit Giverny and Paris.

Claude Monet. The church of Varengeville, effect of morning. 1882. Oil on canvas. 60 cm x 73 cm. Private Collection.

Of all the 90 or so paintings Claude Monet is said to have done while staying in Pourville during the winter and again in the summer of 1882, my favourite is definitely The Church of Varengeville, Effect of Morning (above). For me, it is one of those paintings that so epitomises the impressionist project, from the manner in which it was created to the finished product’s title, ‘the effect of morning’. [Read more →]

Claude Monet, Plage de Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas (60 X 73 cm). © National Museum in Poznań, Poland.

Writing about the recovery of Poland’s only Monet painting, The Beach at Pourville (Plage de Pourville), recently got me doing more research on his time on the Normandy coast. Most people, with even the slightest interest in Monet’s work, are aware of his house and gardens in Giverny and that he made a few paintings along the Normandy coast. But the time Monet spent on the Normandy coast over a period of 7 years produced a group of paintings that far outnumber all others. And one of his more prolific years was 1882 when he spent a few months at Pourville in Winter, and then returned there later with his family in the summer. [Read more →]

Claude Monet, Plage de Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas (60 X 73 cm). © National Museum in Poznań, Poland. Stolen from the Museum in 2000, and recovered by Polish Police 12 January 2010.

Monet’s Plage de Pourville, painted in 1882 and stolen in 2000 from National Museum in Poznań, Poland, was recently recovered by the Polish police and presented to an eager press-pack in Poznań. And yesterday, 1 March, the man who stole Poland’s only painting by Monet was placed under psychiatric observation. [Read more →]

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” Claude Monet.

For almost 43 years, from 1883 to 1926, Claude Monet lived in Giverny, Normandy. There he combined his passion for colour, flowers and gardening and created one of the now most famous and well known historical gardens in World. A garden that most people know having seen reproductions of his wonderful paintings. [Read more →]

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” Claude Monet.

Tucked away in a small little square, Place St Amande, is the city of Rouen’s homage to Claude Monet. Admittedly, it is not an unattractive little square, with some very typical medieval timber framed town houses. But not only is the square a bit out of the way, it really does not have anything that one would associate with Claude Monet. It is not as if the timber framed houses were subjects he ever painted, and the Cathedral he has made World-famous can only just be seen on the skyline.

Monet painted the Cathedral over 30 times in the winter of 1892/3. While in Rouen he set up a temporary studio across from the Cathedral where he would work. And even while working in this wonderful medieval city, he was thinking of his garden. From his letters to Alice, we know he met a few gardeners in Rouen from whom he obtained flowers which he then posted back to his house in Giverny.

During his time in Rouen Monet also met Émile Varenne, director of the Botanical Garden. Varenne not only introduced Monet to the gardeners who gave Monet various plants, but he also gave Monet a great deal of advice and friendship. Monet would work on his Cathedral series in the morning and then go to the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon, where he would spend hours in the greenhouses. In a letter to Alice, dated 16 February 1893, he records his amazement for their orchid collection.