It is very interesting to judge the status and popularity of the artist at a certain time by the history of some of his paintings. Here, for example, this work with the Japanese bridge. Orsay Museum, in the collection of which the painting is now, tells about all the previous owners and dates of purchase. So, the picture was written in 1900 - and in the same year it falls into the gallery of art dealer
Fields Durand-Ruel. November 21. The very next day, November 22, she is in the personal collection of the banker Isaac de Camondo. And after 11 years, even during the life of the artist, under the will of the Count de Camondo, this picture becomes the property of the Louvre.
In 1900, Monet - already a star. Durand-Ruel holds his solo exhibitions. French, Russian and American collectors crowd at the door of the gallery, they write, they ask - they are ready to buy in advance everything that Monet is just writing in the studio. Thames - so Thames, haystacks - so haystacks. Japanese bridge - take away without looking. Prepare wallets and count thousands of francs. Paintings by Claude Monet this year, posted at the World's Fair. He earns a lot of money and even buys a car in the year 1900. A whole team of gardeners works in his garden; he orders seedlings and seeds from abroad. Even in winter, Monet’s greenhouses serve fresh fruit to the table. The artist is 60 years old - and even the most vehement opponents of impressionism admitted him, critics who were ready to destroy 20 years ago. Children, their own and adoptive, rode to different cities and countries, serve in the army, participate in car races, get married, get married. In a pink house with green shutters it becomes quiet.
Monet could write endless variations of haystacks at sunset or poplars at different times of the year — fortunately, the seasons continued to replace each other, and the weather in Giverny pleased with diversity. But right now, in these happy and satisfying times, Monet's insistence is changing like that of a teenager: a successful sketch enthralls him, an unexpected change of weather that prevents him from finishing the work, drives him to despair and despondency. He conceived a new test:
“I'm trying to make things completely impossible. I want to write water, in the depth of which the grass sways ... It is extremely pleasant to watch this, but it is difficult to convey on canvas to madness. And I, like crazy, make more and more new attempts! ”
Monet will travel to London, make a large cycle of paintings with views of the London bridges (
1,
2) and on
Palace of Westminster, but he wants to go somewhere behind the plots less and less. Next to his house are a few hectares of a huge, infinitely volatile, flourishing open-air workshop, a pond with nymphs and a Japanese bridge. Monet is leaning over the water, closer and closer, peering into the depths, the horizon line will gradually disappear from his paintings, the sky will disappear - and only water will remain. The 60-year-old Claude Monet is still 26 years ahead - and the most ambitious, the most fascinating, the most daring
a journey through the depths of a small garden pond with nymphs. Multimeter canvases with swaying water and tiny water lily beacons that keep fainting from dizziness and rolling, which keep the eye and provide balance. For a great plan, an aging artist needs less and less every year: Giverny, a tiny corner of the garden, the bridge line that goes beyond the limits of visibility, a few nympheus, wavering water.
Author: Anna Sidelnikova