The Artist’s Magazine – October 2019

ArtistsNetwork.com 61

house the pictures, he ordered custom
easels to facilitate rolling the huge
canvases around. Because the can-
vases were too cumbersome to be
worked from life, Monet relied on
sketches and his lifelong experience.
He pursued a view looking down into
the pond on which lilies floated and
the sky was reflected. Working and

reworking the surfaces over months

and years, he gradually developed a

group of canvases of sublime beauty.

After a number of false starts and

disagreements, it was eventually agreed

that the works would be installed in

two interconnecting oval rooms in the

Jeu de Paume, in Paris. The installa-

tion represents an enormous formal

leap in painting. Rather than present

an illusion to be looked into, the

works instead occupy the same space

as the viewer, now enveloped in the

depths, subtleties and splendor of the

artist’s vision.

Although Monet didn’t live to see

thefinalinstallation,hebestowedon

theworlda legacyofenormousand

blissfulpleasure.

John A. Parks (johnaparks.com) is a

painter, a writer and a member of the

faculty of the School of Visual Arts in

New York.

“Claude Monet: the Truth of Nature” is presented by the Denver Art

Museum from October 21, 2019, to February 22, 2020. For more information,

visit denverartmuseum.org.