AN APPRECIATION: Claude Monet
(Part II High Impressionism)

Renoir, "Monet Painting In His Garden at Argenteuil"

 Almost coinciding with the First Impressionist Exhibition began a period sometimes called High Impressionism. It was during this period that the core members of the group raised the style to its height.

After his return from England, Monet settled in the village of Argenteuil on the Seine just outside of Paris. The village offered him the opportunity to paint rural fields as well as vistas that included hallmarks of modern life such as railroads. One of his favorite subjects was the river. Indeed, Monet had a small boat outfitted as a floating studio, which he could row to different locations that caught his eye.

There was interaction with his colleagues. Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir forayed out on painting expeditions setting up their easels almost side by side. Edouard Manet also came to visit Argenteuil and like Renoir, painted scenes of Monet working in his garden. On one occasion both Manet and Renoir came to visit and were painting in the garden. Monet used to tell the story that Manet took him aside and told him that your young friend is a nice fellow but you should tell him that he really should find another profession.

In addition to painting scenes of the countryside, Monet ventured into Paris to paint scenes of modern urban life. He painted scenes of the avenues recently constructed as part of Baron Hausmann's massive transformation of Paris as well as scenes encompassing some of the new more industrial elements of the city such as the Pont de L'Europe bridge.

Along the same lines, Monet produced a series of paintings of the interior of Paris' Gare St. Lazare He was particularly interested in capturing the light effects of the smoke emitted by the locomotives inside the railroad station. According to Renoir, Monet, dressed in his best suit, asked to see the director of the station. He told the director that he was the artist Monet and that he wished to paint scenes of the station. The director had never heard of him but assumed that Monet must be one of the celebrity artists of the Salon. Reflecting the awe and respect that Parisians had for art, the director had the platforms cleared of passengers and acceded to Monet's request that the locomotives make as much smoke as possible. After Monet had worked on a number of canvases, the staff bowed as Monet left the station.

Renoir found this quite amusing because Monet was far from a celebrity at this point and the railroad had interrupted its operations in order to accommodate this unknown poverty-stricken artist. However, with hindsight, the station director undoubtedly acted correctly by helping one of the greatest artists of all time.

Monet showed eight of the Gare St. Lazare series at the Third Impressionist Exhibition. Following the First Impressionist Exhibition, the group had banded together for a public auction of their work at the Hotel Drouot. The auction was a dismal failure producing little revenue. Monet and Renoir were keen on trying another exhibition and so the Second Exhibition was held at the Durand-Ruel gallery in the Spring of 1876. Like the First Exhibition, the art was ridiculed by the critics but the exhibition was a partial financial success. Therefore, a Third Exhibition was planned for the next year.

Although the Gare St. Lazare series received high praise from some critics, it was attacked by others. Along with quarrels with Edgar Degas over whether the artists showing at the exhibitions should be limited to the core group, the of lack commercial of success cooled Monet's eagerness for group exhibitions. However, Gustave Caillebotte was able to persuade Monet to contribute a number of paintings to the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition in 1879.

Monet, refused, however, to participate in the Fifth Impressionist Exhibition. The Fourth Exhibition had failed to yield the financial success Monet desired. Indeed, he became convinced that being associated with the Impressionists was hurting sales of his paintings. Meanwhile, Renoir, who had not participated in the Fourth Exhibition was finding success at the Salon.

Therefore, Monet submitted two paintings for the 1880 Salon. One was rejected and the other was hung badly so as not to be noticed. Monet resolved never to submit paintings to the Salon again. Instead, he would rely on one-man shows at galleries and private sales to collectors.

Financial difficulties

The reason Monet was so concerned about the commercial side of exhibiting his work was that he was poverty-stricken. Although he sold paintings, his work was not commanding the prices he needed to support his wife Camille and son Jean. Therefore, Monet was always asking for money from other artists, including Manet and Caillebotte, as well as from collectors who had purchased his works in the past.

In 1876, the situation became worse when Camille contracted tuberculosis. She became weaker after the birth of their second son Michel in the Spring of 1878. Living at Argenteuil was now beyond their means so the Monets moved further away from Paris to Vetheuill.

At Vetheuill, the Monets shared a house with Ernst Hoschede and his family. Hoschede was a financer who had purchased some of Monet's work. However, he had suffered financial reverses and had been forced to declare bankruptcy. Over time, Ernst became estranged from his family and departed for Belgium.

Camille died in September 1879. Monet had included her in numerous paintings over the years and had difficulty letting go, even painting a posthumous portrait of her on her death-bed. During this period, he also painted scenes of the area around Vetheuil, trying to capture aspects of the area in all seasons. The desolate winter scenes of ice flows on the river and snow-covered countryside helped him to overcome his grief.

Alice Hoschede undertook the care of Monet's two boys along with her own six children. This allowed Monet to travel to Normandy where he painted the sheer cliffs and arches of Etretat, to the Mediterranean coast where he was impressed by its unique light, to Britainny and to the valley of the Creuse.

Monet's financial worries began to ease somewhat in 1881, when art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel started buying Monet's work on a regular basis. Monet had met Durand-Ruel in London when both were refugees from the Franco-Prussian War. Durand-Ruel became interested in promoting Monet's art and had purchased some works but financial reverses in the early 1870s had forced him to curtail these purchases. Once again financially sound, he actively promoted Monet and the other Impressionists.

Accordingly, Durand-Ruel persuaded both Monet and Renoir to participate in the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882.  In order to entice them back, this the exhibition was limited to a small group  including Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Paul Gauguin, and Caillebotte as well as Renoir and Monet.  Degas who had long advocated opening the exhibitions to "new blood," did not participate.  Nonetheless, it was critically and commercially the most successful of the Impressionist exhibitions.

Still, by this time, the members of the original group were no longer in constant contact with each other as they had been in the early 1870s. Their lives had evolved in different directions as had their artistic styles. “I am still and always intend to be an Impressionist – but I very rarely see the men and women who are my colleagues. The little church has become a banal school which opens its doors to the first dauber.” Monet said.   Consequently, the Seventh Exhibition was the last of the group exhibitions in which either Monet or Renoir would participate.

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Click here for Part III of our profile of Claude Monet

See our profiles of these other Impressionists and members of  their circle.

Frederic Bazille
Eugene Boudin
Marie Bracquemond
Gustave Caillebotte
Mary Cassatt
Paul Cezanne
​Edgar Degas
​Henri Fantin-Latour
​Eva Gonzales
Paul Gauguin
Armand Guillaumin​
Edouard Manet
​Berthe Morisot
​Camille Pissarro
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Alfred Sisley
​​Suzanne Valadon
​Victor Vignon
​

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From his home in Argenteuil, Monet could venture out and paint bucolic scenes such as "Coquelicots, la promenade" (above) or scenes with artifacts of contemporary suburban life such at the pleasure craft in "Pont Argentueil" (below).

Monte's colleagues came to visit him at Argenteuil as evidenced by Edouard Manet's "Monet and Family in the Garden" (above).
Monet fitted out a boat as a floating studio, which he used in painting numerous views of the Seine near Argentuil (below).

Two paintings masterpieces from the 1870s "Woman With A parasol" (above) and "Autumn at Argenteuil" (below).

Monet also painted urban masterpieces including a series of views of the Gare St. Zaare in Paris. (above).

Above:  "Lavacurt Under Snow."   Following the death of his first wife, Monet found that painting winter scenes of the area around their home at Vetheuil helped him overcome his grief. 

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Artist appreciation - Claude Monet (Part II High Impressionism)