25 MONET OR THE TRIUMPH OF IMPRESSIONISM

The essential Impressionist"This is the work on Monet; anything published before or after it will seemminor in comparison [...]. It is the only readily available publicationthat gives a complete record of Monet's work - in other words, it isdefinitive." -The Good Book Guide, LondonAlong with Turner, no artist has sought more than Claude Monet(1840-1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists,it was the man Ceazanne called "only an eye, but my God what an eye!" whostayed completely true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visualsensation, painting directly from the object.It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of colour, andwhether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time inthe dazzling light of Algeria as a conscript, or his personal acquaintancewith the major painters of the late 1800s, what Monet produced throughouthis long life would change forever the way we perceive both the naturalworld and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations werethe late series of waterlilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, that,in their moves towards almost total formlessness, are really the origin ofabstract art.This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundlyinfluential of artists, and offers numerous reproductions and archivephotos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary.