Claude Monet in the Countryside
In "Claude Monet: The Art of the Series," we begin our visual journey with the Impressionist's studies of haystacks and poplar trees.
I’ve decided to pull this old series of patron essays from the archive, as most of you have not seen it. Below is the first in Claude Monet: The Art of the Series.
Claude Monet was just shy of fifty when he turned to the subject of haystacks.
Initially, it seemed a surprising choice for a man who, after thirty years of determination, had finally reached the brink of success. In 1886, longtime supporter and art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel had set sail for New York with numerous Impressionist canvases in tow—a decision that jump-started the movement’s international popularity. The following year, Monet, along with Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and countless others, participated in the Exposition Internationale at Georges Petit’s gallery in Paris. The Parisian bourgeoisie who once found the Impressionists shocking and horrid were changing their tune, and the artists now exp…
