EXHIBITION MONET IN FULL LIGHT

The exhibition follows Monet's work and the artist's life on the Riviera at a pivotal moment in his life. The exhibition, with nearly 100 paintings from all over the world, including many masterpieces that have rarely been shown together - and one that has never been seen before - offers a new perspective on the Master's work.

At the crossroads of chronology and theme, the exhibition - curated by Marianne Mathieu, a specialist in Claude Monet - provides keys to a better understanding of the painter's quest through exceptional scenography created within a 3000 m² museum space offering total creative freedom.

The prism of light

In 1883, halfway through his long life and settling in at Giverny, Claude Monet, still in search of inspiration, made his first trip to Monte Carlo and the Riviera, which he discovered with his friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

He returned alone in 1884 and again in 1888. In Monte-Carlo, Roquebrune, Bordighera and Antibes, he nourished his quest, his obsession, to capture light. As a northern painter, he discovered a new palette of colors, new elements, and found it difficult to paint them. It was during his final stay in Antibes in 1888, that he envisioned his famous series painting from the Salis beach, the fort of Antibes in all the seasons.

As Marianne Mathieu says, "Monet's work is very coherent. From his youth in Le Havre, to the last paintings in Giverny, the painter does not try to paint a motif, but rather a moment ; Monet does not paint a landscape, but an atmosphere. On the Riviera, between 1883 and 1888, this means maturity; Monet discovers himself as the painter of the series. In Giverny, which he almost never left at the turn of the century, the painter evolved again, changing his point of view, and now painted only the mirror of water. Monet abandoned panoramic views in favor of a tighter framing offering a quasi-abstract vision of the water and its reflections. He does not paint his garden, only the elements of water and light. He paints the image of a floating world."

In this exhibition, curator Marianne Mathieu invites the visitor to approach Claude Monet's work through the prism of light: "let's not ask what Monet paints but rather when he paints it; let's not look for a motif, but for a moment..."

Works rarely exhibited together

Around a section devoted to paintings created during his time on the Riviera, 23 exceptional works exhibited for the first time near the still preserved sites where they were painted, the exhibition strives to put the master's work into perspective, showing his quest to capture light. In all, nearly 100 paintings will be presented, dating from the beginning of his life to the end.

This exhibition, one of the largest monographs devoted to Claude Monet in the last decade, and arguably the most daring, with paintings rarely shown together, is organised by the Grimaldi Forum with the exceptional support of the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. 

Download the Press kit here