Monday, May 16, 2011

Monet at the Musée de l’Orangerie

As best I understand it, the Musee de l’Orangerie was built in Paris, very near the Louvre, with the idea of displaying some of Claude Monet’s very large paintings from his Nympheas (water-lily) series.  This series of paintings (about 250 in total) were all painted in his flower garden in Giverny, France.  Not all these paintings are displayed here, they can be found in museums around the world, but there are quite a few here, as well as other of Monet’s work on display here, plus works from other impressionist and post-impressionists such as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Alfred Sisley.  The first three paitings shown are from the Nympheas series.  The last painting, of the boats, is titled Argenteuil. and is one of my favorite Monet's.  It was painted in 1875 when Monet lived in the village of Argenteuil, along the Seine River, just outside of Paris.




Argenteuil
By Claude Monet, 1875