Exhibition Details | High Museum of Art Atlanta
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High Museum of Art - Atlanta
  High Museum of Art - Atlanta
       

Rediscovering Monet's finest achievement.

Monet Water Lilies presents an intimate view of four of Monet's most spectacular works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The highlight of the exhibition is a breathtaking 42-foot painting that inspires a sense of serenity, meditation, and the infinite. Painted at the end of his life, this series became Monet's "obsession," as he wrote in 1908. In these paintings, he sought to capture the beauty he found in nature, especially in his beloved garden at Giverny.

This exhibition explores Monet's devotion to his garden and the changes in his technique at the end of his life. His late works transcend his familiar Impressionist style and venture into abstraction. Even though Monet's abstract technique was largely a result of deteriorating vision, these works profoundly influenced subsequent generations of artists.

Upon experiencing the splendor of the Water Lilies, it is hard to believe that the majority of the series remained in Monet's studio for thirty years after his death, ignored and dismissed as a failure. The Museum of Modern Art and its founding director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., played an essential role in introducing these important and stunning paintings to the American public.

They are now often considered Monet's greatest achievement.

Interesting Links

  L'Orangerie

Virtual Tour
Musée de l'Orangerie
http://www.musee-orangerie.fr Use this virtual tour tool to discover the stunning installation of Monet's waterlily paintings in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. Learn more >>

  MoMA Restoration

Collection Conservation
MoMA's Restoration of the Water Lilies
http://www.moma.org Learn step-by-step how the water lily paintings were acquired and restored by MoMA conservators. Learn more >>

  Japanese Prints

Monet's Home and Gardens
Monet Foundation Collection
http://www.fondation-monet.com Examine Monet's home and influences on this site that features image galleries of the artist's gardens and collection of Japanese prints. Learn more >>

  Village of Giverny

Things to Do
Village of Giverny
http://www.giverny.fr/ Make a virtual trip to Monet's village of Giverny outside Paris using this informative tourism site. Learn more >>