Master of the Sublime. The essential Impressionist

Along with Turner, no artist has sought more than Claude Monet (1840-1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cézanne called "only an eye, but my God what an eye!" who stayed completely true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object.

It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of colour, and whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time in the dazzling light of Algeria as a conscript or his personal acquaintance with the major painters of the late 1800s, what Monet produced throughout his long life would change forever the way we perceive both the natural world and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations were the late series of waterlilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, that, in their moves towards almost total formlessness, are really the origin of abstract art.

This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundly influential of artists and offers numerous reproductions and archive photos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary.

The author:

Daniel Wildenstein (1917-2001) was an art historian and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Paris). From 1939 onwards, he was Director of the Wildenstein Galleries of New York, London and Tokyo. He edited several international journals, e.g. the magazine Arts from 1956-1962 and the Gazette des Beaux-Arts after 1963. He co-founded the Fondation Wildenstein in 1970 (it was renamed the WildensteinInstitute in 1984), and was a prime mover in many exhibitions of international repute. Daniel Wildenstein also edited the catalogues raisonnés of various 18th, 19th and 20th-century artists. He was a world authority on Impressionism, and published catalogues of the works of Gauguin, Manet and Monet.

The Monet exhibition taking place in fall 2010 at the Grand Palais in Paris has caused an international sensation. In a rapturous review on the front page of The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman says that it gives us a sublime painter whose achievement places him in the company of artists who reveal the world with new vision. This catalogue offers a permanent record of this magnificent art exhibition. 

Claude Monet is one of the most beloved painters in the history of art. His work appeals both to the broad general public and to artists, who are moved and challenged by his achievement over a working life that spanned six decades. With more than 300 illustrations of Monet’s greatest works and accessible essays by leading art historians, this lush volume offers a vivid new perspective on the artist and his work.

Discover Venice in a splendid volume of masterpieces by artists such as Canaletto, William Turner, Paul Signac, and Claude Monet.

Thanks to its unique qualities — the beguiling interplay of light, water, and atmosphere — Venice was elevated to a magical “laboratory of perception” in the nineteenth century. Like many other artists, Claude Monet also sojourned in the city with its lagoons and islands, where he was inspired to create his famous Venice cycle in the autumn of 1908. His Venetian paintings mark a turning point in his work as he adopted an increasingly abstract pictorial vocabulary, demonstrating that Venice made a considerable, albeit little noted, contribution to the emancipation of painting, just as it was poised on the threshold of modernity.

This splendid volume, filled with large-format color illustrations, is the first to provide a comprehensive examination of Venice’s image in European and American painting of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the center of this well-informed exploration is Monet’s Venice cycle, supplemented by masterpieces by his predecessors and contemporaries, ranging from Canaletto to Turner to Paul Signac.

Artists featured:

Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, J. M. William Turner, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pietro Fragiacomo, Odilon Redon, Paul Signac, Claude Monet

Strokes of genius: the magic of Monet!

Claude Monet (1840–1926) was both the most typical and the most individual painter associated with the Impressionist movement. His long life and extraordinary work were dedicated to a pictorial exploration of the sensations which reality, and in particular landscape, offer the human eye. Monet’s poplars, grain stacks, Rouen Cathedral, and waterlily paintings — among the most beloved works of the Impressionist period — were created long before the currents of the contemporary avant-garde and had an inestimable influence on the development of modern art. This book traces the life’s work of one of art history’s most beloved painters.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was both the most typical and the most individual painter associated with the Impressionist movement. His long life and extraordinary work were dedicated to a pictorial exploration of the sensations which reality, and in particular landscape, offer the human eye. Monet’s poplars, grain stacks, Rouen Cathedral, and water lilies paintings—among the most beloved works of the Impressionist period—were created long before the currents of the contemporary avant-garde and had an inestimable influence on the development of modern art.

Книга о французском художнике, одном из главных представителей импрессионизма Клоде Моне (1840–1926).

Моне – художник ясного дня, живописец неба, снега, отраженных в воде облаков, он первый живописец, который писал белым цветом монохромные картины. До самой старости, до поздних изображений пруда с белыми кувшинками он добавлял эту белую краску к чистым тонам, тем самым изгоняя из своей живописи глухой тон сумеречного интерьера. Моне – живописец света. Моне вырос в скромной буржуазной семье. Слава пришла к нему, когда он едва достиг пятнадцати лет. Он рисовал шаржи на учителей, а также на весьма достойных и известных граждан города. Моне торговал этими шаржами и неплохо зарабатывал. Познакомился с пейзажистом Эженом Буденном, который поощрял его занятия живописью, приучил работать на пленэре, а также посоветовал поехать учиться в Париж. Моне продолжил обучение живописи в мастерской Глейра, где познакомился с Ренуаром, Сислеем, Базилем, а еще ранее, с Камилем Писсарро, которые в дальнейшем и создали движение импрессионистов. Первые два морских пейзажа были благосклонно приняты в парижском Салоне. В дальнейшем Салон часто отвергал работы художника, и ему приходилось испытывать финансовые трудности. Но Моне много работал и еще при жизни добился всеобщего признания. Несмотря на извечные финансовые трудности, по словам Ренуара, Моне «носил рубашки с кружевными манжетами» и всегда выглядел весьма респектабельно. Издание состоит из девяти глав, рассказывающих о жизни художника и об истории создания каждой картины, представленной в издании.

Каждая иллюстрация имеет аннотацию. В конце книги приводятся иллюстрированная хронология жизни и творчества мастера, а также подробный список иллюстраций.