Monet: Late Paintings of Giverny from the Musee Marmottan

by Paul Hayes Tucker

Lavishly illustrated. Exhibition catalog. Essays by Lynn Frederie Orr, Paul Hayes Tucker and Elizabeth Murray. Bibliography. 87p. Measures 9.5x11 inches.

Genres: Art

88 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing this review for the second time >:(

Loved that this was short and sweet and enjoyable, but the essays were very disparate and repetitive which detracted from the experience a lot. It was not clear from the cover or back that this would be separate essays instead of a single narrative, and I think either making that clear or just not making the book like that would have helped a lot! Obviously I also did not see the exhibition in person which may have made me enjoy this more. Also, the included paintings with the essays were often not referenced very much, which was confusing, or the referenced paintings I would have liked to see and compared were not present… which kind of defeats some of the point? I want to see what you’re talking about?? The essays that included and referenced paintings thoughtfully I enjoyed much more.

I did really enjoy learning more about Monet’s life story, there was a lot I didn’t know before that made me appreciate his work in new ways! He really loved gardening and flowers more than I knew and more than just aesthetically, war and loss had a huge impact that i hadn’t known about before (this is like so clear now that I do know and just looking at the paintings before and after like woah the book did do a good job showing that), and the extent of his cataracts impacting his vision was greater than I knew, too! I think some of this is a result of me never looking at the catalogue of his work and comparing pieces bc why would I have done that, but looking at the paintings of the same parts of gardens progressively like omg I could cry about this it got very extremely blurry sometimes almost unrecognizable but ITS STILL THERE bc that’s all he could see that was his reality and he didn’t tell anyone!!! He made this whole garden to look at and be perfect but he could only see it in patches of color!!!! :C

While I’m not a huge fan of ALL his work- some of the EXTREMELY impressionist stuff I just am not that into- this made me appreciate and understand it a lot more even if it wasn’t the best which I think is probably the goal! I also loved the diagram of his flower garden and water lily ponds that was awesome and a really great addition.

I did discover a few new favorite paintings, including The Rocks At Pourville, Low Tide!

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant if not the epitmoe of his art. The essays provide some real insight as structure for the exhibition displayed within the pages.

[Jaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was sold at an exhibition of Monet's works at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Monet is my favorite painter so when the exhibit came, I had to go see it and the book had some of my favorite paintings in its collection. The essays were interesting and had information about Monet that I didn't know before. The essays focused on his time at his house in Giverny, but information and paintings were included from throughout his life and career.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is essentially the catalogue for a traveling exhibit i caught in portland in 1995 that changed my world. his late paintings--many done while he was nearly blind from cataracts--are incredibly expressionistic, gestural, with thick twinings of paint laid down on some canvasses while others are left half-bare. amazing work, and the reproductions in the book are nice quality.

[Beck Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite book on Monet as it was associated with a fabulous art exhibit that explained his later years. On display was his glasses at the end of his life showing how color changed for him. The paint on these paintings was so thick and had so much texture. I remember that day well and it reflects in the number of stars I will give this book.