This groundbreaking exhibition is the first ever devoted to the young genius of Claude Monet. Monet: The Early Years will feature approximately 60 paintings from the first phase of the artist’s career, from his Normandy debut in 1858 until 1872, when he settled in Argenteuil, on the River Seine near Paris. Through the 1860s, the young painter—still in his twenties—absorbed and transformed a variety of influences, as the lessons of the Barbizon school and his mentor Boudin gave way to the challenges posed by his friends Manet, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley. 

 

On the strength of his invention of a highly personal and distinctive mode of painting, the young man positioned himself as an artist to be recognized and to be reckoned with. Monet: The Early Years examines this period in depth, through the greatest examples of his painting—drawn from museums in the United States, Europe and Japan. The exhibition will enrich our understanding of the ways in which Monet’s artistic innovation and personal ambition evolved in tandem.

 

Monet: The Early Years

 

The exhibition is organized by the Kimbell Art Museum in collaboration with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities and a grant from the Leo Potishman Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, Trustee.