Claude Monet: Life and Art

by Paul Hayes Tucker

The impressionist Claude Monet, created more than 2500 paintings, drawings and pastels that radically altered the way art was made and understood. This beautiful book is a comprehensive — and accessible — study of Monet's achievement which sets his rich legacy into the context of his life and times.

Instead of reading Monet's work as engaged only with the beauties of nature, Paul Hayes Tucker offers strikingly new perspectives based on a close examination of individual paintings, Monet's biography, and the multiple forces that shaped his aesthetic. Tucker sees the artist's oeuvre as an evolving enterprise that was intricately linked to such cataclysmic events as the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune insurrection of 1870-21, the Dreyfus Affair of 1898, and the First World War. Tucker also explores the demands that Monet placed on himself, his responses to market pressures, and his steadfast belief in the power of art to express ideas. Combining documentary material with a thorough analysis of the public's reaction to his work, Tucker convincingly demonstrates how Monet was able to achieve enormous success during his lifetime. He argues that Monet was fully aware of his talents, that he consciously chose sites and subjects that were layered with meaning, and that he was intent on becoming one of France's greatest artists, an honor that he was accorded by the end of the nineteenth century — much earlier than generally assumed.

Fiercely competitive but immensely sensitive, astonishingly inventive though rarely satisfied, Monet was a far more complicated figure than has been acknowledged. he emerges from this lavishly illustrated book as an individual of vision and virtuosity, one whose art was the product of deeply felt experience that continues to hold significance for us today.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction

260 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 1995

Reviews

[Joseph Adelizzi, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Claude Monet: Life and Art” by Paul Hayes Tucker certainly deserves kudos for its beautiful and abundant color plates as well as its excellent layout wherein referenced plates appear very close to the corresponding referencing text. Additionally, Tucker obviously has an excellent grasp of artistic theory and concepts, not to mention art history. I appreciate his insights into the paintings, but I must say at times I felt like “enough already.” The pleasure and value of a painting come, for the most part, from the viewer's reactions to it. Some viewers may be gratified by a more cerebral reaction to a painting while others may find their gratification in a more emotional or visceral reaction. Tucker certainly had reactions of all kinds, and good for him. However, as I said, enough already. My favorite parts of this book were those that gave insights into Monet the man. These insights weren't always agreeable, but that's part of the draw of Monet. My goal was to get an understanding of Monet the man, Monet the artist, Monet the husband, Monet the father, Monet the step-father, and Monet the friend; Tucker's work provided valuable and interesting information which took me a long way towards that understanding. I'd have enjoyed more of this personal type of information and less of Tucker's erudite analysis of each and every painting mentioned in the book. All in all, though, an excellent read.

[Craig Masten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite comprehensive and readable account of Monet's life and work. The text is appropriately accompanied by pictures of the artist's paintings out his career. Much interpretation by the author of the artist's motivations through speculations about his painting. Such artistic psychoanalysis is questionable, but among the possibilities. I read the book with the hope of having more information about the relationship between Monet and his two wives. The author's conclusions in this regard were limited and ambiguous. I wonder,for instance. why the painter portrayed his first wife Camille so often and so lovingly and never painted a single image of his second wife Alice.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, easy to read - even if you aren't familiar with art history or criticism - with lots of color pictures of the works discussed. And not stuck at the back of the book or the middle of the book - the pictures are at most a page away from the first mention in the text.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of his life and anaylsis of his artwork!