Monet and Architecture - to July 29, 2018 - National Gallery, London

Monet and Architecture
National Gallery, London
To July 28, 2018

La Gare Saint Lazare, Monet

“Monet is only an eye” claimed Paul Cézanne, “but my God, what an eye!”

"Only an eye? This exhibition reveals the inner soul of Monet. It shows that his love of nature is not mere escapism. It is a craving for human survival in an age of growing industrial inhumanity..." [read more].

Museum at Le Havre, Monet

"A brilliant colourist, a master of light, the joyous she painter of water lilies; we are all familiar with the painterly style of Claude Monet. But the National Gallery’s latest exhibition introduces us to a different, but equally innovative side of this modern master. The result is simply mesmerising. Dedicated to a select number of Claude Monet paintings of architecture, the exhibition explores the father of Impressionism's lifelong but previously unexplored preoccupation with structure. From the early Normandy paintings of the 1860s to his evocative depictions of Venice painted in 1912, Monet’s self-proclaimed ‘obsession’ with architecture is revealed in all its pictorial glory..." [read more].

The Thames Below Westminster, Monet

"The Venetian churches, the bridge over a garden, the cathedral at Rouen — these were all architectural elements that Monet wove into his scenes and led us to different cities across Europe. He can give us a picturesque calm village and then shift us to a noisy train station full of people and steam... Monet doesn't just recreate a landscape; he transports us there..." [read more].

On the Boardwalk at Trouville, Monet

"The show’s premise is that Monet used architecture to 'structure and enliven his art. Where many, if not most, artists of his time would have found the encroachment of bright brick villas and Parisian tourists along the glorious Normandy shore an appalling intrusion, Monet seems to simply accept it in works such as The Beach at Trouville and On the Boardwalk at Trouvill (both 1870). Yet if the brilliant, fresh morning light gives these paintings a wonderfully optimistic feel, it’s the capturing of that light in the patterns of clouds and bright boardwalk that preoccupies Monet, rather than the hazily rendered buildings... In the magnificent Boulevard des Capucines (Paris, 1873), with its view down onto one of Haussmann’s spanking new boulevards, it isn’t the looming apartment blocks he focuses on, but the way the sunlight hits the bare trees blocking these buildings from view..." [read more].

Boulevard des Capucines, Monet

Yale Books, publishers of the exhibit catalogue, asked author and curators Richard Thompson, "Why take the theme of Monet and architecture?"

"Many Monet exhibitions have been based on particular periods in his sixty-year career. By taking the representation of architecture in his work, we approach his work in a new way. Architecture is considered very broadly, of course... The aim is to explore the very different ways in which Monet used buildings in his paintings, which he did with remarkably diverse results over half much of his career. One wants to encourage the viewer of the exhibition and the reader of the book to see how there are fresh ways to look at these marvellous paintings and to appreciate Monet’s work more deeply..." (Richard Thompson) [read more].

TO VISIT

National Gallery
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN
Open daily 10-6, Friday 10-9
About the exhibit - National Gallery
Ticket information
Catalogue (international delivery available)

To learn more
Monet and Architecture (Review) - Apollo Magazine
Monet Is Power In This Excellent Exhibition At The National Gallery - Londonist
Monet and Architecture: An Interview With Richard Thompson (curator and catalogue author) - Yale Books Blog
Review: Monet & Architecture, National Gallery, London - Culture Whisper
Monet and Architecture at the National Gallery, review - a magnificent display of a modern master - Telegraph
Monet & Architecture review – glorious pleas for humanity show Monet in a new light - The Guardian
Monet for nothing? The misguided controversy about gallery ticket price - The Conversation


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