Claude Monet

Eleven of the 37 compositions that Claude Monet painted in Venice in 1908 depict imposing palaces viewed at close range. There are four paintings of the Palazzo Dario, three of the Palazzo Ducale, and two each of the Palazzo da Mula and Palazzo Contarini, the latter of which was located on the south side of the Grand Canal. Monet painted his views of this structure from the Palazzo Barbaros, the residence of the American patron Mary Young Hunter, with whom Monet and his wife Alice stayed during the first two weeks of their holiday in Venice.

Although at first glance the picture evokes a hazy impression, the complex ornamentation of the Renaissance facade is captured with great precision. Within the closely cropped composition, water and buildings appear as overlapping horizontal bands, visually linked by the mooring posts or pali in the middle of the picture, which are strikingly accentuated in strong brown tones. The unusual color scheme with its contrasting nuances of green and violet evokes a dreamlike atmosphere reminiscent of the fantastical visions of Symbolist painting.

Throughout his series of paintings of Venetian palaces, Monet seems to have been attracted to the interplay between the colored reflections on polychrome stone facades and the surface of the water. A similar interest in subtle variations of color on an immovable architectural structure is otherwise seen only in his views of the cathedral of Rouen from 1892–1894. There he had painted all 33 variations of the motif as a systematic series with a consistent format; his Venice pictures, however, were executed in a range of different sizes and thus cannot be considered a series in the strict sense of the word. Like all his works from Venice, Monet painted this view of the Palazzo Contarini in the open air, sur le motif, but then carefully reworked it in his studio after his return to Giverny. Although it is not documented, he probably used photographs or other visual memory aides as well.

In 1917, the American collector and philanthropist Adolph Lewissohn acquired the painting Palazzo Contarini. In the four-volume catalogue raisonné compiled by Daniel Wildenstein, the picture from the Hasso Plattner Collection is listed as no. 1766 (vol. 4, p. 829). The only other version of the motif, painted in a vertical format, is now in the Kunstmuseum Sankt-Gallen (no. 1767).

Daniel Zamani

Claude Monet: Venise, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, May 28–June 8, 1912, no. 127

Claude Monet, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, March 2–21, 1914, no. 5

Tableaux Durand-Ruel, Auditorium Hotel, Chicago, February and December 1915; Brooks Reed Gallery, Boston, March and October/November 1915, March 1916; Noonan-Kocian Gallery, St. Louis, November/December 1915, November 1916; Cleveland, February 1916; Rochester, April 1916; exhibited in: Chicago, February 1915; Boston, March and October/November 1915; St. Louis, November/December 1915; Cleveland, February 1916

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 3–September 15, 1921, no. 78

A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet for the Benefit of the Children of Giverny, Wildenstein, New York, April 11–May 12, 1945, no. 77

The Lewisohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1951, no. 55

Claude Monet, City Art Museum of St. Louis, September 25–October 22, 1957; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, November 1–December 1, 1957, no. 88

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1959

Claude Monet: Seasons and Moments, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, March 9–May 15, 1960; Los Angeles County Museum June 14–August 7, 1960, no. 96

Claude Monet, William Beadleston, New York, 1982, no. 19

Monet and the Mediterranean, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, June 8–September 7, 1997; Brooklyn Museum of Art, October 10, 1997–January 4, 1998

The New Painting: New Visions in Modern Art (1835–1956), Helly Nahmad Gallery, London, February–May 1998, no. 5

Monet in the 20th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, September 20–December 27, 1998; Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 23–April 18, 1999, no. 56

Monet and Renoir: Two Great Impressionist Trends, Prefectural Art Museum, Hiroshima, November 1, 2003–January 15, 2004; Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, February 7–May 9, 2004, no. 13

Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Tate Britain, London, 2004/2005, no. 89

Venedig: Von Canaletto und Turner bis Monet, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2008/2009

Claude Monet, Helly Nahmad Gallery, London, 2009

Monet 1840–1926, Musée d'Orsay; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, September 20, 2010–January 24, 2011, no. 149

The Nahmad Collection, Kunsthaus Zürich, October 21, 2011–January 15, 2012

Monet: Beyond Impressionism, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, August 19–December 4, 2016

Impressionism: The Art of Landscape, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, January 21–May 28, 2017

Monet & Architecture, The National Gallery, London, April 9–July 29, 2018

Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature, Denver Art Museum, October 20, 2019–February 2, 2020

Monet: Orte, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, February 22–July 19, 2020, no. 114

Impressionism: The Hasso Plattner Collection, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, from September 5, 2020

May 1912, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune and Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, purchased from the artist
June 1912, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris
January 1917, Adolph Lewisohn, New York, acquired from the above
n.d., Mrs. and Mrs. Samuel Adolph Lewisohn, New York, inherited from the above
n.d., Dr. and Mrs. Ernest Kahn, USA, inherited from the above
April 30, 1996, Christie’s, New York, lot 29, consigned by the above
April 30, 1996, The Nahmad Collection, acquired at the above sale
June 20, 2013, Sotheby’s, London, lot 42, consigned by the above

Claude Monet: Venise, exh. cat. Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris 1912, no. 127

Arsène Alexandre, “La vie artistique, Claude Monet et Venise,” in Le Figaro (May 29, 1912), p. 4

Gustave Geffroy, “La Venise de Claude Monet,” in: La Dépêche (May 30, 1912), p. 1

Henri Genet, “Beaux-Arts et Curiosité.:Les 'Venise' de Claude Monet,” in L'Opinion (June 1, 1912), p. 698

André Michel, “Promenades aux Salons VI,” in Journal des Débats (June 5, 1912), p. 1

“Beaux-Arts et Curiosité: Venise vue par Claude Monet,” in Le Temps (June 11 1912), p. 4

Henri Gheon, A travers les expositions, Claude Monet (June 20, 1912), p. 4

Gustave Geffroy, “Claude Monet,” in L'Art et les Artistes 11 (1920), ill. p. 78/79

Raymond Koechlin, Claude Monet, Art et Décoration (February 1927), ill. p. 46

Stephan Bourgeois, The Adolph Lewisohn Collection of Modern French Paintings and Sculptures, New York 1928, p. 78, ill. p. 79

Maurice Malingue, Claude Monet, Paris/Monaco 1943, p. 140, ill. p. 140

Oscar Reuterswärd, Monet: En konstnarhistorik, Stockholm 1948, ill. p. 257

André Barbier, “Monet, c'est le peintre,” in Arts (July/August 1952), p. 10

Claude Monet: Seasons and Moments, exh. cat. The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1960, no. 96

René Julian, “Les Impressionnistes Français et l'Italie,” in Publication de l'Institut français de Florence 1, NII-11, Florence 1968, p. 19

Grace Seiberling, Monet's Series, New York/London 1981, no. 19, p. 381

Robert Gordin and Andrew Forge, Monet, New York 1983, ill. p. 189

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 4, Lausanne 1985, no. 1766, p. 385, ill. p. 245

Philippe Piguet, Monet et Venise, Paris 1986, ill. p. 95

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue Raisonné. Werkverzeichnis, vol. 4, Cologne 1996, no. 1766, ill. p. 829

Monet and Renoir: Two Great Impressionist Trends, exh. cat. Prefectural Art Museum, Hiroshima 2003, no. 13

Monet 1840–1926, exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris 2010, no. 149

The Nahmad Collection, exh. cat. Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich 2011, p. 40, 226, ill. p. 41

Impressionism: The Art of Landscape, exh. cat. Museum Barberini, Potsdam 2017, no. 92, p. 226, ill. p. 233

Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature, exh. cat. Denver Art Museum, Denver 2019, no. 114, p. 221, ill. p. 233

Monet: Orte, exh. cat. Museum Barberini, Potsdam 2020, no. 114, ill. p. 233