Padua celebrates Monet with masterpieces from the Musée Marmottan in Paris

You have until July 14, 2024 to admire the Altinate San Gaetano cultural center in Padua the most beautiful works of Claude Monet coming directly from Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. Curated by Sylvie Carlier, Marianne Mathieu e Aurélie Gavoille, the exhibition retraces the stages of the painter’s artistic research. Among the works exhibited in Padua we highlight ‘Portrait of Michel Monet with a pompom hat’, ‘The train in the snow. The Locomotive’, ‘London. Parliament. Reflections on the Thames’ as well as the ethereal ‘Ninfee’ and the evanescent ‘Glicini’. Furthermore, the exhibition does not lack canvases by the artist’s masters and friends: Delacroix, Boudin, Young child, Renoir.

The exhibition opens with a section dedicated to the history of Marmottan Monet Museuman institution strongly supported by the French art historian, patron and collector Paul Marmottan. The journey continues with Monet’s first ‘en plein air’ paintings, from seascapes to scenes of family life. Influenced by Courbet and Manet who felt the need for direct contact with reality, the French painter practices outdoor painting, delving into the discussion on chromatic perception deriving from the reflection of light on water at different times and atmospheric conditions. Among the works of the period we highlight ‘Impression, soleil levant’, the famous painting that gave its name to the impressionist movement.

The next section is dedicated to luminous variations and chromatic impressions Monet he tries to fix on the canvas, working with rapid brushstrokes in places exposed to sudden meteorological changes. From 1883 the painter moved to Giverny where he will remain until his death. In his works the human figure progressively disappears to make room for themes such as the aquatic garden of the residence, the iris, the hemerocallis and the agapanthus. In Giverrny he painted the series of ‘Cathedrals’ and ‘Water Lilies’, repeated repeatedly over the years during which he took impressionism to its extreme consequences. In 1908, following progressive blindness, matter and light transfigured together, blending into an abstraction full of lyricism. This is the case of the cycles of ‘The Path of the Roses’, ‘The Japanese Bridges’ and ‘The Weeping Willows’. Promoted by the municipality of Padua and sponsored by General Values ​​Culture e AcegasApsAmgathe exhibition is produced and organized by Arthemisia in collaboration with the Museée Marmottan Monet in Paris.