Claude Monet (1840-1926) created Women in the Garden (Femmes au jardin) in 1866 and it is generally considered the first of his works to capture what would become his primary theme: the interplay of light and atmosphere. He used a large format canvas, traditionally reserved for historical themes, to instead create an intimate scene of four women in white standing in the shade of the trees beside a garden path. While the painting isn't considered to be among his finest works, it did establish him as a leader in the emerging Impressionist movement.
Workingen Plein Air
Women in the Garden literally began in the garden of a home Monet was renting in the Paris suburb of Ville d-Avray in the summer of 1866. While it would be completed in a studio the following year, the bulk of the work took place en plein air, or outdoors.
“I threw myself body and soul into the plein air,” Monet said in an interview in 1900. “It was a dangerous innovation. Up to that time, no one had indulged in any, not even [Édouard] Manet, who only attempted it later, after me.” In fact, Monet and his peers popularized the plein air concept, but it had been in use for many years prior to the 1860s, particularly after the invention of pre-made paint that could be stored in metal tubes for easy portability.
Monet used a large canvas, measuring 6.7 feet across by 8.4 feet high, for his composition. To maintain his perspective while working on such a large space, he later said he had devised a system using a deep ditch and a pulley system that could raise or lower the canvas as needed. At least one historian thinks that Monet simply used a ladder or stool to work on the upper area of the canvas and carried it in an out of the house overnight and on cloudy or rainy days.
Read MoreImpressionism Art Movement: Major Works and ArtistsBy Beth Gersh-Nesic
The Women
The model for each of the four figures was Monet’s mistress, Camille Doncieux. They had met in 1865 when she was working as a model in Paris, and she quickly became his muse. Earlier that year, she had modeled for his monumental Luncheon in the Grass, and when he was unable to complete that in time to enter in competition, she posed for the life-size portrait Woman in a Green Dress, which went on to win acclaim at the 1866 Paris Salon.
For Women in the Garden, Camille modeled the body, but Monet likely took the details of the clothing from magazines and worked to give each of the women different appearances. Still, some art historians see the painting as a love letter to Camille, capturing her in different poses and moods.
Monet, then just 26 years old, was under considerable pressure that summer. Deeply in debt, he and Camille were forced to flee his creditors in August. He returned to the painting months later. Fellow artist A. Dubourg saw it in Monet’s studio in the winter of 1867. “It has good qualities,” he wrote a friend, “but the effect seems somewhat weak.”
Initial Reception
Monet entered Women in the Garden in the 1867 Paris Salon, only to have it rejected by the committee, who didn’t like the visible brushstrokes or the lack of a monumental theme. “Too many young people think of nothing but continuing in this abominable direction,” one judge is alleged to have said of the painting. “It is high time to protect them and save art!” Monet’s friend and fellow artist Frédéric Bazille bought the piece as a way to funnel the destitute couple some needed funds.
Monet kept the painting for the rest of his life, frequently showing it to those who visited him in Giverny in his later years. In 1921, when the French government was negotiating the distribution of his works, he demanded—and received— 200,000 francs for the once-rejected work. It is now part of the permanent collection of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
Fast Facts
- Name of Work: Femmes au jardin (Women in the Garden)
- Artist:Claude Monet (1840-1926)
- Style/Movement:Impressionist
- Created: 1866
- Medium:Oil on canvas
- Offbeat Fact:Monet's mistress was the model for each of the four women depicted in the painting.
Sources
- Claude Monet Women in the Garden. (2009, February 04). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting/commentaire_id/women-in-the-garden-3042.html?cHash=3e14b8b109
- Gedo, M. M. (2010).Monet and his muse: Camille Monet in the artists life.
- Women in the Garden (1866-7). (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2018, from http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/paintings-analysis/women-in-the-garden.htm
FAQs
His earlier paintings were successful at Paris Salons, but Women in the Garden was rejected in 1867 on the grounds of subject and narrative weakness. This piece is simply a work that was meant to fit within his theme: the interplay of light and atmosphere.
Why did Claude Monet paint Women in the Garden? ›
The aim of this work was to discover how figures - within a landscape - could give the impression that air and light moved around them. He organized this by painting shadows, light with purposely-used color, sunshine filtering through the foliage, and reflections glowing through the darker gloom.
What does the woman with a parasol symbolize? ›
Symbolism and Interpretation
The parasol itself, a common accessory in 19th-century France, is more than just a fashion item in this painting. It acts as a shield against the sun, a symbol of protection, and perhaps a metaphor for the role of the woman in society – shielding and nurturing, yet also elegant and poised.
What is the meaning behind the Water Lilies by Claude Monet? ›
Above all else, the Water Lilies, especially the murals at the Musée de l'Orangerie symbolize the artist's full retreat into nature and, especially, into his favorite subject.
Was Monet rejected from the Salon? ›
While he's regarded today as one of the most famous and revolutionary painters in history, Claude Monet was rejected often throughout his youth by the Salon, France's state-sponsored art gallery.
What is the message of Claude Monet's painting? ›
With his paintings, Monet strove to capture a fleeting moment by rendering the nuances of light and color. He wanted to depict the feeling or sensation of a scene, rather than the objects within the composition.
What did Monet like to paint the most? ›
Monet was exceptionally fond of painting controlled nature: his own gardens in Giverny, with its water lilies, pond, and bridge.
How long did it take Monet to paint woman with a parasol? ›
The spontaneity and naturalness of the resulting image were praised when it appeared in the second impressionist exhibition in 1876. Woman with a Parasol was painted outdoors, probably in a single session of several hours' duration.
Did Monet paint himself? ›
In the year 1917, before the Nymphéas were completed, Monet painted three additional self-portraits which he spoke of only hesitantly, perhaps because he saw in them the limits of what he could do at that point in his life and did not believe he could surpass them in the days he had left.
What is the spiritual meaning of the parasol? ›
In Hinduism, the parasol is known by the Sanskrit word of 'chatra', and is a traditional Indian symbol of both protection and royalty. The parasol is part of a grouping of eight auspicious symbols that were traditionally used in ceremonies such as the coronation or investiture of a king.
Monet painted a pair of figure pictures, one depicting a woman turned to the left and one to the right, in 1886. The model for both was Suzanne Hoschedé. Following Camille's death, Suzanne had become Monet's favorite model.
Where is the woman with a parasol now? ›
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
What does the night blooming water lily symbolize? ›
Waterlilies are symbolic of rebirth because the flowers close at night and come back in the morning. The waterlily is also seen as a sign of enlightenment by Buddhists because the flowers are rising out of the mud.
What is the true subject of Monet's water lilies? ›
Water Lilies (French: Nymphéas [nɛ̃. fe. a]) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artistic production during the last thirty years of his life.
What did the Impressionists do when they were rejected from the Salon of established artists? ›
The Impressionists exhibited their works outside the traditional Salon beginning in 1874. Subsequent Salons des Refusés were mounted in Paris in 1874, 1875, and 1886, by which time the popularity of the Paris Salon had declined for those who were more interested in Impressionism.
Which painting was displayed in the 1863 Salon de Refuses? ›
1863. This painting caused much controversy at the Salon des Refusés. The most famous of the works exhibited at the Salon des Refusés was Manet's then-scandalous The Luncheon on the Grass. The painting features a nude woman casually launching with two fully dressed men.
Why was Manet's painting rejected? ›
The painting was rejected by the Salon, the prestigious annual art exhibition in Paris, which served as the arbiter of artistic taste and acceptability. Manet's work was considered vulgar, immoral, and an affront to the established artistic order.
Which painting when rejected by the French Salon sparked a revolution in the world of art with impassioned criticism of the stifling academic practices? ›
Édouard Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass" (Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe) exhibited at the Salon des Refusés in 1863 exemplifies several new and groundbreaking ideas about art that emerged during this period. The painting challenged traditional artistic conventions and paved the way for the development of modern art.
