Artists Magazine - USA (2019-10)

(Antfer) #1
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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.
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