Claude Monet, 1840-1926

by Karin Sagner-Düchting

Between the motif and the artist Claude Monet (1840-1926) was both the most typical and the most individual painter of Impressionism. His long life and extraordinary work capacity - coupled with a sometimes furious perfectionism--he dedicated to a pictorial exploration of the sensations which reality, and in particular landscape offer the human eye. But while Monet the painter was faithful and persevering in the pursuit of his motifs, his personal life - characterized by frequent travels and changes of location -- followed a more restless course. Parisian by birth, he discovered plein-air painting as a youth in the provinces and sought to defy his family's insistence upon an academic painter's training. For over half his life the artist was plagued by financial worries, which in part precipitated the frequent moves made by his expanding household. Two of his homes stand out above the rest. The first, Argenteuil, has come to represent the artistic flowering and official establishment of Impressionism as a movement, with Monet as its creative leader. But it was also Monet who, in his endeavour to capture the ever-changing face of reality, went beyond Impressionism and thereby beyond the confines of the self-contained panel painting. This step he took in the village of Giverny: here he painted the Poplars, Grain Stacks and Rouen Cathedral series in which he addressed one motif in constantly new variations. Here, too, Monet laid out the famous garden with its water lily pond which he was to paint on huge canvases well into the 1920s. He thereby sought to render not reality as objectively experienced, but rather that which takes place 'between the motif and the artist'. In their open, nolonger more than tenuously representational structure and impressive scale, his water lily paintings - created long before the currents of the contemporary avant-garde-point the way forward to the developments of the future.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, France, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Karin Sagner, früher Sagner-Düchting (* 1955 in Steinheidel-Erlabrunn) ist eine deutsche Kunsthistorikerin und Autorin.

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the great French Impressionist painter. A detailed biographical text is accompanied by a vast selection of his paintings, featuring some of his stunning masterpieces including The Water Lily Pond, Poppies, Garden at Sainte-Adresse, Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, Water Lilies, Le Grand Canal, and a whole lot more.

[Juan Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the three Taschen books about artists I’ve read this has been the best one. It shows Monets life through his paintings. You can really see his progress in style technics and topics. The paintings are selected in a way that helps you understand a lot more about this great artist.

[Emerson Swanson-Dobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the life of Monet and how his art style developed. Lovely full colour pictures of many of his paintings

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent survey of Monet’s life and work. His personal life, artistic development, and the evolving growth of Impressionism (and beyond) are well developed, but not to the point of tedious detail. There are fascinating insights and detours to other aspects of the culture, such as the Dreyfus affair, and the impact of Japonisme. (Monet’s use of picture-series, such as haystacks and Rouen Cathedral front, was influenced by Japanese traditions such as Hokusai’s One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji). The illustrations are plentiful, well selected and matched to the text, and well reproduced.

[Agusstiinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

si soy honesto, la historia me importó bastante poco, yo solo quería conocer mas obras de monet, y apreciar su belleza desde mi humilde morada latinoamericana 🚬

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não confunda esse livro como uma introdução ao trabalho de Monet, sua biografia e crítica estão entremeados no texto, transformando a obra em algo mais acadêmico do que propriamente para o grande público.

Para os mais empedernidos, contudo, há a recompensa de ler sobre a influência japonesa no estilo do artista, os grandes acontecimentos e disputas na escola dos Impressionistas e o que chama mais a atenção dos brazucas, a obsessão do pintor com a nossa Vitória-Régia.

São belas ilustrações ocasionalmente comparadas com fotos dos locais retratados ou inspiradores, a edição é de ótima qualidade, também. Há um indíce cronológico e uma lista das obras de Monet.

Por ser uma obra específica em inglês, recomendo apenas há aqueles já acostumados com o vocabulário da área ou para nível avançado.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book to know how Monet became a impressionist painter and how he exercised his most important principle in his paintings - light. Indeed it was a leap from an era of detailed figure painting to his significant impressionist landscape paintings, there was silent revolution going on and he won the fight.

[Prospera · Rating 5 out of 5]

My siblings gifted this book to me for my birthday and I'm so glad they did.

The book is informative and writes about Monet and his works with lots of admiration and respect.

I also liked the fact that it didn't talk just about him but also about impressionism in general and about other painters. For someone who doesn't know much about art (like me) it's perfect.

[javi (distopica libros) · Rating 5 out of 5]

me encanta Monet y este libro fue una experiencia estética bellísima

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prose is romantic and effortless.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a far more prosaic book than Richardson's -- in fact, it is quite poorly written -- that traces the (rather pedestrian) biography of Claude Monet, adding some (but not very extensive or overly sensitive) commentary on his art. Still, this book contains beautifully produced large-format color prints at a very cheap price (about $10), and for that reason, it offers a fine introduction and collection of Monet's beautiful paintings. The series is called Taschen Basic Art:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...

[Vikrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Monet" by Karin Sagner-Duchting. Basically, a journey through Claude Monet's life and paintings. Part biography, part art textbook. Surprisingly easy and quick to read, for somebody with a non-art background. I have seen several of Monet's paintings first hand, and I have even bought a print or two, but was not aware of his background and story. Interesting to read about the conviction of his ideas, a struggling artist's trade offs between art and commerce. and the real discipline and hard work that went into his work.

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice overview of his painting and history. large format color, and thumbnail b/w.

[Heather]

When I say I "read" this, it means I looked at the pictures. :)
It was great to "read" after I finished a juvenile biography of Monet.