Monet The Early Years

The first comprehensive examination of the painter s formative years, tracing the evolution of Monet s early style and personal ambitions that drove the rest of his career This elegant volume is the first to be devoted to the young genius of Claude Monet (1840 1926). Bringing together the greatest paintings from his early career including his first Salon-exhibited work, the Kimbell Art Museum s "La Pointe de la Heve at Low Tide";" Dejeuner sur l Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass)" and "The Magpie "from the Musee d Orsay; and"The Green Wave"""and "La Grenouillere "from the Metropolitan Museum of Art it features essays by distinguished scholars, focusing on the evolution of Monet s own distinctive mode of painting. Through the 1860s, the young painter absorbed and transformed a variety of influences, from the lessons of the Barbizon school and his mentor Boudin to the challenges posed by his friends Manet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley. Artistic innovation and personal ambition shaped the work of the celebrated impressionist painter from the very start of his long and illustrious career."