The de Young Museum just opened "Monet and Venice”, a rare opportunity to see many of Monet’s works on Venice reunited in a comprehensive exhibition. In 1908, at age 68, Claude Monet took his first trip to Venice. The exhibit shows 20 of the 37 known Venetian canvases Monet produced.
Monet went to Venice because he was struggling with a creative block while painting his famous water lilies. The revitalization of his art gained from the Venice experience is evident in his later water lily paintings. Some of these late works are featured at the end of the exhibit for comparison.
One of the most striking pieces in the exhibit is called "The Red House." It depicts an obscure house on a minor canal. The piece focuses on color and light, with intense burnt oranges and deep reds. Monet’s goal was to make the image feel like a dream or mirage. He worked on several canvases at once, rotating them as the sun moved across the sky to capture the exact “envelope” of light at that specific hour.
“The Grand Canal”, in contrast to The Red House’s fiery intimacy, captures the shimmering, hazy blue light of quintessential Venice. It is the best example of Monet’s enveloppe (the way the air and mist between the painter and building become the subject). The vertical poles slice through the water. These dark, sharp lines are the only things anchoring the painting, preventing it from becoming purely abstract.
Monet painted six canvases featuring The Grand Canal. One of them is part of the de Young’s permanent collection! Compared with his hundreds of paintings of water lilies, he painted relatively few canvases of Venice, famously saying “It is too beautiful to be painted! It is untranslatable!”
Despite his initial hesitation, Monet left us with a vision of Venice that feels like a masterpiece of light and water.
The Monet And Venice exhibit will be on display at the de Young through July 26.