Description

No other artist, apart from J. M. W. Turner, tried as hard as
Claude Monet
(18401926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cézanne called only an eye, but
my God what an eye
! who stayed true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object. It could be said that Monet
reinvented the possibilities of color
. Whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time as a conscript in the dazzling light of Algeria, or his personal acquaintance with the major painters of the late 19th century, the work Monet produced throughout his long life would change forever the way we perceive both the natural world and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations was the late series of water lilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, which, in their approach toward almost total formlessness, are really the origin of abstract art. This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundly influential artist, and offers
numerous reproductions and archive photos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary
.
Recenzja
"This is the only readily available publication that gives a complete record of Monet's work--in other words, it is definitive."-- "The Good Book Guide"
O autorze
Daniel Wildenstein
(1917-2001) était historien de lart et membre de lAcadémie des Beaux-Arts de Paris depuis 1971. Il dirigeait depuis 1939 les galeries Wildenstein de New York, Londres et Tokyo et les revues internationales
Arts
(de 1956 à 1962) et
Gazette des Beaux-Arts
(depuis 1963). Cofondateur de la Fondation Wildenstein en 1970, il a encouragé plusieurs expositions de renommée internationale. Daniel Wildenstein dirigeait également lélaboration des catalogues raisonnés dartistes des 18e, 19e et 20e siècles. Autorité reconnue dans le domaine de limpressionnisme, il a publié les catalogues de loeuvre complet de Gauguin, Manet et Monet.