Monet The restless vision

Curious about the interior life of the revolutionary painter Monet, Wullschläger (Chagall, 2008) was elated to discover a trove of his letters not previously translated into English. Here is Monet as an "unruly child" who loved to draw and spend his days by the sea in Le Havre, a busy port where "everything is in motion," and where Monet first fell under the spell of light, change, and dynamism, inspiring what became known as Impressionism. In Paris, he befriended Renoir and other future Impressionists and lived with and painted stylish Camille Doncieux, with whom he had two sons. Ever restless and hungry for new vistas, Monet traveled often, but home was crucial to him, especially houses on the Seine outside Paris and the paradise he created at Giverny. Wullschläger tracks the high-stakes drama of Monet's relationship with Alice Raingo Hoschedé as they lived scandalously together with his two and her six children while she was still married. A writer of radiant energy and exhilarating insights, Wullschläger matches each phase in Monet's long, ardent, precarious, and momentously creative and productive life with the evolution of his radically in-the-moment paintings. Her biography, like his work, profoundly alters our perceptions, revealing how, from portraits to seascapes to water lilies, Monet painted out of love and endless fascination with what it feels like to be alive.

Financial Times art critic Wullschläger (Chagall) delivers a scrupulous biography of impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926). Beginning with his childhood in Paris and Le Havre, she touches on his family ("Resourcefulness, adaptability, robust health, and a resolutely urban outlook were the legacy of grandparents"), his teenage stint as a caricaturist, his military service, and the genesis of his artistic career. But the focus lies in how the women he loved shaped his creative life. According to Wullschläger, Monet "made his reputation" painting his future wife Camille Doncieux in such works as The Woman in a Green Dress, in which he simultaneously showed off and "disguised" his subject by depicting her as she walked away. Also explored are the period of "intense introspection" during Camille's illness leading up her 1879 death that fueled Monet's obsessive work on pastorals, and the new productivity he harnessed during his courtship with and eventual marriage to Alice Hoschedé, who inspired Monet with her "strength" and "her faith in him and ambition for him." Refreshingly, Wullschläger doesn't shy away from Monet's less savory characteristics, including his rage, emotional manipulation, and profligate spending, bringing to life a man whose creative genius was inseparable from his flawed humanity. Even readers well-versed in Monet's life story will learn something new from this thorough and original reappraisal. (Sept.)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the years of Monet's birth and death.