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Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies

Ross King

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 1,326 ratings · 230 reviews

Claude Monet is perhaps the world's most beloved artist, and among all his creations, the paintings of the water lilies in his garden at Giverny are most famous. Seeing them in museums around the world, viewers are transported by the power of Monet's brush into a peaceful world of harmonious nature. Monet himself intended them to provide “an asylum of peaceful meditation.” ...more

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Hardcover, 416 pages

Published September 6th 2016 by Bloomsbury USA

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Oct 09, 2016 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing

Shelves: artists

”It is difficult to separate discussions of an artist’s ‘late work’ from romantic associations of blind seers offering up unutterable visions from beyond the threshold, or of old men raging against the dying of the light. But it is undeniable that as his eye filmed over and his vision slowly dimmed, Monet, ‘who caught and sang the sun in flight,’ focused ever more intently on the fleeting rays of light that he had always chased and cherished.”

photo 9571ee58-f6c1-4133-b82d-9e8607247956_zpsv2p3bmug.png

Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet

Claude Monet, ...more

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May 21, 2019 Jean rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, e-book, non-fiction, art, world-war-1

King writes about the last years of the life on Claude Monet (1840-1926). I know very little about Monet and his paintings. All my education has been in the area of science. Now that I am older and retired, I am attempting to expand my knowledge.

As a World War One history buff, I was most interested in the part about World War One in France. I learned a different viewpoint of the effects of the War. I found how various artists helped during the war from paintings of battles to the discovery of c ...more

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May 01, 2017 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: arts, leaders, france, 2017-read, ww1, history, bio, audible-uk

May I first suggest that you carefully read the book description at Good Reads? It is accurate.

What made the book click for me? The emotional strain of Monet’s last twelve years felt palpable as I read this book. I completely empathized with his emotional turmoil. His loss of vision coupled with his own high expectations must have been excruciatingly difficult to bear. That he became irascible and impossible to deal with feels completely understandable. The author makes the last years of Monet’s May I first suggest that you carefully read the book description at Good Reads? It is accurate.

What made the book click for me? The emotional strain of Monet’s last twelve years felt palpable as I read this book. I completely empathized with his emotional turmoil. His loss of vision coupled with his own high expectations must have been excruciatingly difficult to bear. That he became irascible and impossible to deal with feels completely understandable. The author makes the last years of Monet’s life feel intimate and very real. I came to understand Monet at the end of his life, and that is when you draw up for yourself what is important. Monet’s personality becomes tangible.

The long friendship between Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) and Georges Clémenceau (1841 – 1929) is realistically and movingly drawn. Clémenceau was the Prime Minister of France during the last year of the First World War and until January 20, 1920, with President Raymond Poincaré. He served an earlier term as prime minister but this is not covered in the book. The book covers the years 1914- 1926, the last twelve years of Monet’s life. Clémenceau died three years later. Historical details, both about artists of the period and the war as well as the subsequent difficulties surrounding the Treaty of Versailles are covered. History is an essential part of the events because it shaped the life of Clémenceau and thus his relationship with Monet. Don’t read this book if history bores you. For me, Clémenceau is no longer merely a figurehead, but someone I know. Monet is no longer merely an artist in a book, but a person whom I have better come to understand.

Before reading this book, I knew that Monet’s Lilies were housed in the Parisian Musée de l’Orangerie, where I saw them. This book focuses on how the paintings came to be and how they came to be placed there. This is a fascinating story with many twists and turns. Kojiro Matsukata, the first president Kawasaki Dockyards, sought to purchase them for the Sheer Pleasure Fine Arts Museum in Japan!

The book is well researched, detailed and thorough. Both faults and strengths are pointed out. Many quotes are given. The quotes put meat on the bones of those we encounter.

Anyone picking up this book will probably already know if they love impressionist art or not, and if so why. If you do, it is always fun to hear how others describe it. It is always fun to know a little bit more about the artists who were at its source, who gave it acclaim and who despised it.

If you have not been to Monet’s house and garden in Giverny, France, just outside Paris, put it high up on your list of places that must be seen. Today it is a museum. In 1883 it was where Monet went with his two children, Michel and Jean, after his first wife Camille died. In 1892 he married Alice Hoschedé, after her own estranged husband died. Her six children became as his own. One hears much about the stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschedé. She is 48 years old in 1914 as the events in this memoir unfold. She was the one child to have an artistic bent, and she was devoted to her stepfather. Clémenceau called her ‘The Blue Angel. Enough! Read the book if you want to know more.

This book is filled with French names, places and expressions. Most are translated. The narrator of this audiobook, Joel Richards, does not know French. While the English lines are simple to follow, it is totally wrong to pick someone not competent in French to read this book. This explains why I have given the narration one star.

If you are interested in other books by Ross King, check out The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism. I gave it three stars. ...more

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Dec 02, 2016 Bettie rated it it was ok

Shelves: winter-20162017, art-forms, nonfiction, move-on-nothing-to-see, biography, slightly-skewed, radio-4, next

BOTW

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08492fv

Oh blimey, this should have sent me into raptures, and it really would have, if I hadn't, lifelongingly? (heh!) acquainted myself, through pure love, to Monet.

The saddest part is that no identifiable and visible part that let the side down - it was just dead throughout, which of course, Monet, and his lilied gift, could never, ever be.

...more

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Jun 29, 2017 Carlos rated it really liked it

this was a book regarding a topic that while I'm very interested in i haven't read so much about it in ever. That being said I have always enjoyed Monet's work specially "water lillies" . This book is not about art or the techniques used by Monet ..rather its about the artist himself and his last years of artistic work...that happens to correlate to his greatest most prolific years of artistic output..In this book you get a glimpse of the artistic scene in France at the end of the 19th century a ...more

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Jul 13, 2016 Yodamom rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, historical

4.5This book has much more story than Monet. It centers around him, his work, his family his struggles, but it cover so much more. The first world war is prominent from the early whispers of war to the horrible realities of it. Monet, his famous artist friends, journalists, politicians and the community around him he so loved withered, many died. I learned many interesting details about the war in France from a new perspective, it was fascinating and heartbreaking.
Monet was a off centered man. H ...more

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May 07, 2016 Christine Zibas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016-books, 2016-around-the-world-contest, giveaways-i-ve-won

"Monet's paintings captured nature's mix of the ephemeral and the eternal, its magnitude and its minutiae, its glittering appearance and its dizzingly fathomless depths."

It's easy to love Monet's paintings, and this book even lays out theories that his style thrust upon its viewers a "soothing effect on both the eye and brain, [with] Monet himself as le peintre du bonheur (the painter of happiness)."

Yet, it was not always the case with his critics, and near the book's end, Author Ross King deta "Monet's paintings captured nature's mix of the ephemeral and the eternal, its magnitude and its minutiae, its glittering appearance and its dizzingly fathomless depths."

It's easy to love Monet's paintings, and this book even lays out theories that his style thrust upon its viewers a "soothing effect on both the eye and brain, [with] Monet himself as le peintre du bonheur (the painter of happiness)."

Yet, it was not always the case with his critics, and near the book's end, Author Ross King details that it was the Abstract Expressionists, painters such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, many years later who reinvigorated a love for Monet. Stunning now to think that Monet and the Impressionists might have been lost to history.

This book covers a very specific time period in Claude Monet's life. It's not a biography of his whole life, but instead covers the body of work (the water lily paintings of Giverney) that was his magnum opus. This time frame covered World War I, and with Georges Clemenceau one of Monet's greatest champions, readers are taken well into the Great War's effect on France, as well as Monet's continuing work.

This is a delightful book, as engaging as fiction, with wonderful photographs of the characters and scenery that populated Monet's life in his last years, as well as some heart-wrenching ones, of Verdun, for example, that encapsulate the horrors of the war. The book helps readers understand the very personal toll that painting took on Monet, and the challenges he faced as he worked (his perfectionism in creating the water lily series, his failing health, the loss of friends, and so on).

Ultimately, however, this is a book filled with joy and understanding. It reaches deep into the painter's life and work and allows his admirers to expand their appreciation of Monet's art, as well as for those who surrounded Monet and never let the artist succumb to his own feelings of inadequacy when it came to creating some of the most beautiful art for the ages.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Books and Good Reads for this ARC. ...more

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Dec 30, 2016 Julie rated it liked it

Shelves: 21st-century, non-fiction, bio-auto-bio, canada

Proof positive that you don't have to be a nice person to be a great artist.

Oh, those temperamental artists! shouts the inner voice. In this case, Ross King renders a laudable biography of a slice of Monet's life, overflowing with the jagged edge of the artist's darker side. King convinces me, whether intentionally so or not, that I would not have liked Monet the Man: a self-indulgent, petulant, fractious old crank who swanned around like some troll-like prima donna. The flip side is, I would ha ...more

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Apr 09, 2017 Tam rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fic, history, arts

Just as the title suggests, Mad Enchantment is about Claude Monet's passion for water lilies and his increasingly difficult personality towards the end of his life as his health deteriorated and his mind likewise suffered depression as he believed he could no longer see colors and thus, could no longer paint. Ross King's writing is as excellent as usual. I want to stress that his books are not formal analysis of paintings, but stories of artists and their creations, so someone curious in learnin Just as the title suggests, Mad Enchantment is about Claude Monet's passion for water lilies and his increasingly difficult personality towards the end of his life as his health deteriorated and his mind likewise suffered depression as he believed he could no longer see colors and thus, could no longer paint. Ross King's writing is as excellent as usual. I want to stress that his books are not formal analysis of paintings, but stories of artists and their creations, so someone curious in learning about Impressionism might have to look elsewhere. This is rather the place for the fans or 'almost' fans of Monet, learning about his life.

I think `mad' is a little bit exaggerating. Monet appears to me such a lovely, sensitive giant. He was rich, successful, had great influences and friendships with important people. He was perhaps as powerful as an artist could be, commanding such exorbitant prices for his works. He was also a hermit, not talkative, hardworking and passionate. But even the most powerful figure can feel insecure at times. Monet could be anxious, edgy, jumpy. He questioned his own ability, plunged into depression easily each time he was in the midst of deep creation. Mild depressions proved to be quite productive, but of course severe depressions could backfire.

All of those characters, I think, are natural. Not to mention this `mad' period is when Monet was in his late 70s early 80s. Elder people could be difficult to deal with, as we all know. They require much attention and babysitting. Monet was lucky to have two people caring a lot for him: his close friend and powerful politician Clemenceau and his step-daughter, also daughter in law, Blanche Hoschede-Monet.

I feel a great pity that most records can be recovered here are in letters, and of course letters are sent and received between friends living in some distance. As a result, the observation that we can collect about the artist is mostly from his correspondences with Clemenceau and other friends. The closest person to him, Blanche, was only mentioned on side note. She was certainly loved and appreciated for all her work and devotion, yet the direct interaction between her and Monet isn't known, and it seems that she doesn't write any memoir about her step father. And Blanche is an artist herself.

But coming back to Monet, I think he has such an endearing characters. Not for a single moment, well maybe except one (the big one in 1924), that I lost temper with him. In photographs and in interactions with most people, he appeared more lively and confident though quiet, but, as revealed in his letters with Clemenceau, he was shy and unsure, despite his fame and power he had. And I don't think that he was just fishing for compliments, since at times he did destroy many of his canvases, feeling they weren't good enough. He was asking a lot from himself, asking a lot as experience grew, vision enlarged and ambition burnt yet body slowly failed. And he was sensitive, worried about others' opinions, not the kind and always complimenting Clemenceau, but he general public, the future perception of his body of work, especially the work in the last few years of his life. The depression is natural. And in fact it was rightly placed. His magnificent collection in Orangerie was quite neglected for a few decades, until 1960s when there was a revived interest in Monet from Abstract Expressionists, and only truly properly cared for in the 90s and 00s.

No this is a man who was at times difficult but not unkind. Reading his letters are completely different from reading Vincent van gogh's, mind you. (If interested in Vincent, please ignore the dramatized and novelized Irving Stone's Lust for Life but more serious work, such as Van Gogh: The Life or at least read directly his letters The Letters of Vincent van Gogh, you will find such an annoying and disturbing personality who loved to tortured his ever patient brother Theo). Monet, on the other hand, is lovely. The letters among this period are disproportionately full of anxiety and of whining, as he suffered loss of his wife, some of his friends, and also his health. But here are the letters shared with his closest friend, not that he was always just whining and did nothing. In fact he worked hard, produced so many canvases despite everything. He cared about others and worked to reconcile with Clemenceau. What I can see is someone who yearns for more, not money, oh well maybe a little bit more of recognition, but most for better vision, for more work, more art. He is in love with painting and with his garden, and someone with true passion always moves me. I cried in my heart a little bit as I saw his death, the moment when he couldn't see anymore. ...more

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Jan 17, 2017 Literary Chic rated it it was amazing

I once heard that if you knock a book off the shelf, you must read it. At my last library visit, I knocked Mad Enchantment off the new non fiction shelf. Between my superstition and the very interesting cover (only half a book jacket) I gave it a chance. It turned out to be a very serendipitous choice as the book is amazing.

Monet's story of the Water Lilies is a fascinating one. It was one of his last works and was done during World War I. With as great of a history as it was, my absolute favori ...more

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Dec 10, 2016 Laura rated it it was ok

Recommended to Laura by: Bettie

Shelves: non-fiction, audio-books, canadian-literature, memoir-biography, read-2016

From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
The story of Claude Monet's later years and the famous paintings he produced at home in Giverny, abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams:

In the 1890's the painter and his large family move to the famous town, and over the years the gardens at his house become lush, exotic
and famous for pictures of water lilies and weeping willows - part of 'le grand decoration'. But how did it all start?

Reader Allan Corduner

Producer Duncan Minshull.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/progr ...more

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Sep 02, 2016 Barbara (The Bibliophage) rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2016, abandoned

As much as we imagine Monet and his tranquil home, Giverny, as a spot secluded in place and time, it wasn't. Monet was subject to the forces around him, while working on some of his most famous art, the Water Lilies series.

Mad Enchantment is a deeply researched, well-written biography of Claude Monet. It starts in the Belle Époque, a time of peace just before World War I. Author Ross King introduces us to Monet, as well as his family and companions. We learn about his benefactors, his friends, ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Krista rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016, nonfiction, biography

As far back as 1891, Octave Mirbeau wrote that Monet did not “limit himself to translating nature” and that his paintings revealed “the states of unconsciousness of the planet, and the suprasensible forms of our thoughts.” A year later, Camille Mauclair enthused that Monet's paintings were “made from a dream and a magical breath...leaving for the eyes only a mad enchantment that convulses vision, reveals an unsuspected nature, lifts it up unto the symbol by way of this unreal and vertiginous

...more

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Dec 02, 2016 Wanda rated it really liked it

Recommended to Wanda by: Bettie

Shelves: 2016, bbc, audiobooks

2 DEC 2016 - a recommendation through Bettie. Thank you. Such beautiful paintings!

10 DEC 2016 -

Episode 1 of 5 - Mad Enchantment - The story of Claude Monet's later years and the famous paintings he produced at home in Giverny, abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams: In the 1890's the painter and his large family move to the famous town, and over the years the gardens at his house become lush, exotic and famous for pictures of water lilies and weeping willows - part of 'le grand decoration'. ...more

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Jul 09, 2017 Tudor Ciocarlie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

Such a powerful story about two best friends at the end of their lives: the impressionist painter Claude Monet and the journalist and politician Georges Clemenceau. They are 70 years old at the beginning of this book and still capable of creating their masterpieces in the next decade: Monet by painting Water Lilies and Clemenceau by becoming prime minister and by decisive contributing to French victory in the First World War. This is easily one of the best books about art that I have ever read.

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Mar 22, 2019 Giselle Bradley rated it it was ok

Shelves: on-tbr-longest, tbr-all-as-of-2018

I tried starting this book 5 times before I was able to get past the first 10 pages. That was a sign. I did read this in it's entirety but I was bored 97% of the time. It was a mixture of the writing and the narrator (I listened on audio surprise, surprise!) This just didn't work for me. Long tangents and off-shoots made it difficult to follow what was happening. I would often forget what the original point was by the time he got back to it. ...more

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May 04, 2019 Steven Z. rated it liked it

The work of artists who enter their declining years is not usually positive fodder for biographers, but Claude Monet’s later years is one of the exceptions as depicted in Ross King’s book, MAD ENCHANTMENT: CLAUDE MONET AND THE PAINTING OF THE WATER LILIES. King who has written a number of interesting books dealing with art history, including, BRUNELLESCHI’S DOME, MICHELANGELO AND THE POPE’S CEILING, and LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER begins his narrative by pointing out that once Monet reached his The work of artists who enter their declining years is not usually positive fodder for biographers, but Claude Monet’s later years is one of the exceptions as depicted in Ross King’s book, MAD ENCHANTMENT: CLAUDE MONET AND THE PAINTING OF THE WATER LILIES. King who has written a number of interesting books dealing with art history, including, BRUNELLESCHI’S DOME, MICHELANGELO AND THE POPE’S CEILING, and LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER begins his narrative by pointing out that once Monet reached his sixties and seventies, he had achieved great wealth, notoriety, and produced numerous career defining works. For years rejected by conservative critics and the new Avant Garde Cubists, Monet would find himself producing his Grande Decoration, consisting of eight waterlily murals during the World War I period.

King does an exceptional job reviewing Monet’s life and career up to 1914 when the French artist decided to return to painting after a four-year hiatus due to a series of tragedies. First, his loving second wife, Alice passed away in 1908, then in 1914 his son Jean died, in addition, he began to suffer from cataracts and in 1912 his vision began to decline. During this period a group of his friends also passed, including; Manet, Renoir, Rodin, Pissarro, and Cezanne. Monet still had a number of friends remaining who he could lean on, chief among them was Georges Clemenceau, the French journalist, politician, and man of letters. Clemenceau would support Monet emotionally throughout his life and encouraged him to renew his painting after a visit in early 1914.

One of the most important components of the book is King’s quasi-biography of Clemenceau within the larger narrative of Monet’s life. The later French Prime Minister nicknamed “the Tiger” helped lead France to victory in World War I and would become their voice at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. King uses Clemenceau as a vehicle to integrate French history with Monet’s life story and career and provides the reader the context of how major events affected Monet, how he responded, and their results.

There are a number of turning points in Monet’s life that King delves into. The first is the purchase of Le Pressair in the village of Giverny in 1890, a transaction that did not go over well with local farmers who resented his plan to divert the River Ru and purchase adjoining land to create the large pond on which to plant his water lilies providing him with his subject to paint. The locals saw no commercial benefit in these paintings and resented him as an outsider. Monet’s cantankerous personality also did not endear him to the locals.

The second turning point for Monet was his reaction to the Dreyfus Affair in 1898. Up until that point, Monet’s paintings depicted rural France, deemed as a patriotic message through his art. Along with his friends, Emile Zola, Georges Clemenceau, and other Dreyfusards he rejected and criticized the rise in right-wing French anti-Semitism throughout the 1890s, as well as the unjust conviction of Captain Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army for spying for Germany. Monet decided he would no longer paint rural scenes that could be interpreted as patriotic and concentrate on developing his gardens and canvases.

King accurately points out a number of contradictions when it came to Monet as an artist. First, he wished to work in warm, sunny, and calm conditions, yet much of his career his place of choice to paint was Normandy whose weather was cool and damp for long periods of time. Second, he loved to paint, yet he claimed to find it, “unremittingly torture.” But this torture, friends pointed out was the key that drove him to perfection. King does a wonderful job describing Monet’s methodology and philosophy of painting throughout the narrative, I.e. Monet would paint twelve separate canvases at a time while preparing his Grande Decoration and rotate them on wheels according to the light in order to capture what he hoped to represent. Monet’s health greatly impacted his work in his later years as he was a victim of fatigue and neurasthenia even though to outsiders, he appeared hale and hearty most of the time. His maladies were greatly affected by the weather, which many times he refused to give into resulting in a negative impact on his health.

King approaches his explanation of Impressionism very carefully arguing that Impressionist artists “conspicuously called attention to their brushes and paints. They fragmented their brushstrokes into flickering touches of color that seemed to dissolve their painted worlds into shimmering mirages.” Canvases were not meant to be viewed at close range. King’s discussion of Monet’s painting of the Rouen Cathedral in 1894 with the proposed commission by the state of France to paint the damage caused by German shelling to the Cathedral at Rheims is illustrative of this point. Monet’s Impressionist approach would not be the best way to depict the savagery of German artillery on the cathedral for a government which wanted to heighten French distaste for the “barbaric Germans.” But, for Monet who always wished to receive a commission by the government this was not an acceptable argument, despite the “fuzzy envelope” that seemed to surround the objects that were represented.

The most important event that impacted Monet’s later years was World War I. Monet’s travel and work would have to consider the effects of the war. Art supplies, food, petrol was all rationed and in short supply. A further reason for a state commission would allow Monet to receive coal, food, and materials for his canvases that others could not obtain.

King takes the reader to the Louvre which housed many of Monet’s and his fellow Impressionist friend’s paintings. He reviews the political and economic considerations involved and how German bombardment of Paris, and at times fears of a German attack on the city affected these artists. King provides a unique description and perspective of Paris during the war. Interestingly the fighting produced a war of words between German and French intellectuals over wartime accusations of barbarism. Monet was even recruited to lend his name to these efforts as French intellectuals produced a book entitled, THE GERMANS: DESTROYERS OF CATHEDRALS AND THE TREASURES OF THE PAST.

The war also impacted Monet’s personal life, particularly his anguish over his paintings and his family. Monet refused to leave Giverny during the war as he stated he would rather die among his canvases and life’s work than depart. He also feared for his son Jeanne-Pierre who was in the army as was his son-in-law Albert Salerou. His son Michel would not enter the army until later in the war and would participate in the fighting. It easy for the reader to follow the course of the war as King describes Monet’s life and his interactions with his close friend Georges Clemenceau, I.e., the two battles of the Marne, and the Battle at Verdun, along with its overall impact on Monet and France in general.

The war also galvanized Monet, with a friendly push from Clemenceau to complete the Grande Decoration which according to Kathryn Hughes writing in The Guardian (3 September 2016) there was nothing remotely optimistic or even particularly French about the massive painting that stretched to over 300 feet. It is as Deborah Solomon points out in the New York Times (December 2, 2016) among art history’s greatest last acts as “the water lilies dispense with contours and boundaries and veer toward abstraction.” It is important to note that the subject of Monet’s painting was a garden and pond that was man made and contained hothouse cultivars from South America and Egypt and not a natural outcrop of rural France.

King introduces an important discussion of how tastes in art changed because of the war and the impact of the death of over 300 artists. According to art historian Kenneth Silver, the public and the painters would turn their backs on daring innovation. For many Frenchmen, Cubism and other forms of pre-war art were wild experiments and adventures that were seen as specifically German, and therefore, not to be replicated after the war. At the end of the war Monet offered to donate some of his paintings to the people of France and eventually the lily paintings were installed on specially constructed, curved walls at the Musee de l”Orangerie in Paris. The donation and the negotiations exacerbated by Monet’s need to control how the building would be prepared to receive and maintain his paintings are an integral part of the narrative as King relates his subject’s state of mind and physical health, particularly issues with his vision that led to a number of painful operations.

Solomon sums up her review by arguing that “the book is short on analysis and fails to definitively explain the role played by Monet’s illness in the development of his late style.” But overall King has written a useful book that shatters the myth that Monet painted his Grande Decoration in seclusion when in fact people surrounded him. A staff of gardeners, his granddaughter Blanche, and others all impacted his life, and no one can take away anything from the gift that Monet has produced for posterity. ...more

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Jul 24, 2016 Jim Razinha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-copies, recommended

I once had the opportunity to purchase an original Monet, and by "opportunity", I mean 20 some years ago my wife and I went into a gallery that had one for $14,000. An amount we did not have back then.

I got an advance look at this from NetGalley. This had the potential to be quite dry, but Mr. King did a very good job with the narrative. Incredibly researched and sourced, the later/last years of Monet and his challenges/triumphs with his lilies are laid out in beautiful detail. I have no refere I once had the opportunity to purchase an original Monet, and by "opportunity", I mean 20 some years ago my wife and I went into a gallery that had one for $14,000. An amount we did not have back then.

I got an advance look at this from NetGalley. This had the potential to be quite dry, but Mr. King did a very good job with the narrative. Incredibly researched and sourced, the later/last years of Monet and his challenges/triumphs with his lilies are laid out in beautiful detail. I have no reference frame to compare, as I've never read a bio of Monet, so I'll simply acknowledge that this appears quite thorough and unvarnished. I especially appreciated King's presentation of events for which he had no confirmation: "Clemenceau would have been conducted to a room he knew well, ..." Unlike hacks like Bill O'Reilly and his semi-ghost who state conjecture as fact, King does no such thing. And speaking of Clemenceau, the Tiger plays a prominent role in this biography - as one would expect if one knew his friendship with Monet.

I like Monet well enough, and though I have have a much deeper exposure to the art world in recent years, I admit I still have a hard time understanding

"Monet paints in a strange language", [a] reviewer had claimed in 1883, "whose secrets, together with a few initiates, he alone possesses."

Or, on Monet changing landmarks:

Faithfully depicting architectural features was less important to him than creating a striking composition."

I have an extremely hard time buying interpretations and inferences unless they are from the conformed words of the actual artist, but King has a plethora of references of the master's own words with respect to his feelings on color and composition and the subject at hand. (Color was a huge source of frustrations in Monet's cataract struggles.)

Bottom line, this is a fascinating story of perhaps the greatest Impressionist artist.

A couple of notes on the book: the review text had no index, or list of illustrations. Nor did it have any photos of the subject (lilies) - I don't know if permissions had not yet been obtained or there is no intent to include them. The photos in the galley (I use that term given the source - NetGalley) were gray-scale. For a book on Monet's water lilies, color would seem to be essential. ...more

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Jun 10, 2016 Nancy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley

As a girl I scoured the public library for art books. My love of the Impressionists, especially Monet, came early. I requested Ross King's new book on Claude Monet as soon as I saw it on NetGalley.

Although I was very familiar with Monet's paintings, especially those in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I knew very little about his life.

King focuses on Monet's later years as he struggled to realize his Grande Decoration during WWI while dealing with failing eyesight. The trails of the artistic lif As a girl I scoured the public library for art books. My love of the Impressionists, especially Monet, came early. I requested Ross King's new book on Claude Monet as soon as I saw it on NetGalley.

Although I was very familiar with Monet's paintings, especially those in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I knew very little about his life.

King focuses on Monet's later years as he struggled to realize his Grande Decoration during WWI while dealing with failing eyesight. The trails of the artistic life, how genius copes with human limitations, and the horrendous impact of WWI on France is vividly portrayed.

Although it took me a few chapters to get into the book I became swept up in Monet's story. I recall complaining, "I can't stop now, Monet's undergoing eye surgery!"

The book begins in April, 1914 with Monet's dear friend Prime Minister Clemenceau coming to Giverny, the rustic hamlet where Monet built an 'earthly paradise'--the gardens now famously preserved in his paintings.

The concept of Monet's Grande Decoration was born after the death of his son Jean in 1914. His water lily pond would be recreated through a series of massive paintings to be displayed in an oval room. He spent years obsessed with capturing ephemeral beauty. Monet promised Clemenceau he would give the water lily paintings to France.

"Many people think I paint easily, but it is not an easy things to be an artist. I often suffer tortures when I paint. it is a great joy and a great suffering." Claude Monet

Cataracts and blindness plagued Monet and compromised his belief in himself. He knew what he wanted to achieve but felt his limitations.

Monet was a passionate man who would rave at life's limitations. He was his own worse critic, destroying canvases that he considered failures. He stalled handing over the paintings. As long as he had his great work he had a reason to live. The delay strained his friendship with Clemenceau.

At his death in 1926 the paintings were put on display in the Orangerie at Tuileries. Go on a virtual visit to here.

Monet the man and the artist was brought to life in King's book and I have a better appreciation of the impact of WWI on France.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. ...more

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Aug 21, 2016 Judy Lesley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

I received an e-ARC of this book through NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA.

The artists who led The Impressionist Period are, for the most part, my favorite artists. I've not tried to chose a "favorite" because different paintings by different artists give me pleasure in varying ways. Claude Monet has always been special and his water lilies in particular give me great pleasure in simply standing before a painting and losing myself in the picture.

I've not read any works by Ross King and I have to adm ...more

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Oct 08, 2017 Todd Wright rated it it was ok

By far the worst of King's books. I cannot understand why King spent so much time writing about WWI, this is far from his strong suit. The parts concerning Monet and other artists was interesting but burdened by the rest of the book. ...more

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Feb 19, 2018 Joanne rated it it was amazing

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. Frankly, I picked it up because it had been nominated for a major Canadian literary award, and I knew something about Monet because my art teacher husband has walls of art books. As well, who hasn't seen reproductions (or, if you're privileged enough, the real thing) of his work, had a coffee mug or tee shirt, etc.

To my surprise, I was utterly absorbed by the book. While it dwells almost exclusively on the last 15 years of Monet's life and the creatio ...more

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Nov 26, 2016 Barry Hammond rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Several returns and hours spent staring at the "luminous abyss" of Monet's Water Lillies series in a special exhibition in a darkened room at The Museum of Modern Art while I was still in my twenties was a good prelude to reading Ross King's book on the creation of these masterworks. Now, that I'm of an age that I can appreciate that Monet was in his late 70's when he painted these massive canvases during the dark days of the first World War (and with failing eyesight) makes the feat even more a ...more

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Dec 23, 2017 David rated it really liked it

Thanks to an extensive collection of letters, we have a great deal of detail about Monet's later life and his obsession with creating a series of massive and immersive paintings based on the water lilies in his garden pond at Giverny. My sense is that this was an early attempt at creating an experience similar to viewing an immersive modern movie. He was a close associate of Clemenceau (who loved to visit Monet in Giverny) and donated the paintings to France following WWI. Impressionism was wani ...more

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Dec 07, 2019 Marjorie Elwood rated it liked it

Shelves: art

This straddles uneasily the line between research novel and popular history - it's overly detailed for the latter and feels as though the author tried to cram too much information into the book. There are some moving passages: a description of Armistice Day in Paris, and the passing of Monet. ...more

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May 25, 2019 Jane rated it liked it

You know how most serious biographies have a thin scrim of illustrations in the middle, rather like a smear of filling between to slices of bread? Acceptable, but boring. Far better is the model followed here by Ross King, who peppers his text with appropriate images all through - and saves the color pictures for the jam in the middle. Poppy-seed cake with a raspberry layer: delicious. That said, I found the story of Monet's late paintings slow going. Not exactly watching-paint-dry slow, but rea ...more

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Feb 18, 2017 Susan rated it it was amazing

I thoroughly enjoyed this work about the artist Claude Monet and the painting of his beloved water lilies. It had so much of what I enjoy in a book - art, history, and biography. I learned so much about the significant relationships in Monet's life including Clemenceau, one of the prime ministers of France during "La Grande Guerre." I enjoyed knowing more about Claude Monet's temperament and personality as well. I have been privileged to visit Giverny twice in my life and yet feel the pull to go ...more

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Dec 28, 2016 Lillian rated it really liked it

I've always been enchanted with Monet's Water Lilies. It took me quite a while to finish this book. It's intriguing, but not engrossing. I picked it up and put it down a number of times and read several books in-between. It seems to me to be a discertatian by a student of Monet. However by the last several chapters, I was indeed engrossed. I learned a great deal, both about the man, the Impressionist movement, as well as the history of the time. ...now Giverny is on my #BucketList!! ...more

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Jul 09, 2018 Margaryta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: amazing-after-feeling, books-you-should-read-at-least-once, just-amazing, non-fiction, thought-provoking, art-design-or-pastries, worthy-of-being-ny-bestseller, history, 1920s, 19th-century-setting

It would probably be more accurate to say that King's book is about the context surrounding Monet's famous water lilies than it is a close examination of the series itself. "Mad Enchantment" was not what I expected based on the description, but I was so much happier when I delved into it and let the book unravel by itself. King paints a very detailed portrait of the time period and of the artist himself, to the point where I occasionally wanted to strangle Monet myself. King presents him as a ma ...more

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Jun 27, 2019 Keith Taylor rated it it was amazing

There were lots of things to like about this book, not least of which -- it is an easy read! And it fills in lots of information on the Waterlilies!

Interesting side note: these paintings were ignored for quite a while when they were first given. They were enclosed in a dark basement-like place. That's the way I first saw them when I visited them regularly in the 70s. They were closed for renovation when I went looking in 2002, and now are apparently opened up for air.

It is a great story, though ...more

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About Ross King

Ross King

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Ross King (born July 16, 1962) is a Canadian novelist and non-fiction writer. He began his career by writing two works of historical fiction in the 1990s, later turning to non-fiction, and has since written several critically acclaimed and best-selling historical works.

King ...more