Claude Monet's Impressionist painting technique is still a source of inspiration today. Through his dazzling series The Water Lilies or his founding work, Impression, Rising Sun, discover why Monet became a master of French painting in the 19th century through this exploration of his life and work.

Master of the sublime

The essential impressionist

Along with J.M.W. Turner, no artist strove harder than Claude Monet (1840-1926) to capture light on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, he was the man of whom Cézanne said "only one eye, but my God, what an eye!", the man who remained utterly loyal to the principle of absolute fidelity to visual sensation, painting directly from the object.
Monet arguably reinvented the possibilities of colour and whether it was his early interest in Japanese prints, his period as a conscript in the glowing light of Algeria or his personal relationship with the most important painters of the late 19th century, what Monet created during his long life changed forever the way we perceive both the world and its associated phenomena. The high point of his explorations was the late series of water lilies painted in his own garden at Giverny, which, in its turn towards almost total formlessness, is truly the origin of abstract art.
This biography does full justice to this exceptional and profoundly influential artist, offering numerous reproductions and archival photos along with detailed and accurate commentary.

About the author

Daniel Wildenstein (1917-2001) was an art historian and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1939, he was director of the Wildenstein Galleries in New York, London and Tokyo, and later editor of several international publications, includingArts magazine (1956-1962) and the Gazette des Beaux-Arts (from 1963). He co-founded the Fondation Wildenstein in 1970 and promoted numerous exhibitions with international repercussions. Daniel Wildenstein also edited catalogues raisonnés of various artists of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. He was a world authority on Impressionism and published catalogues of the complete works of Gauguin, Manet and Monet.

Publisher Taschen

Publisher: Taschen