National is in the Monet with new exhibition
New show puts the focus on artist’s work on London’s bridges, Venice and Rouen Cathedral
CLAUDE MONET’S water lilies are the nation’s favourite paintings, and his last retrospective was the most popular art exhibition in British history.
But interest in Monet is yet to peak, according to the director of the National Gallery, as he announced next year’s blockbuster show will be devoted to the French artist once more.
Opening in spring 2018, Monet and Architecture will feature more than 70 paintings by the great Impressionist. So ubiquitous are Monet’s works – his images adorn everything from coasters to cushion covers in the National Gallery’s gift shop – that you could be forgiven for thinking there is nothing more to be seen. Not so, according to the director, Dr Gabriele Finaldi.
“Now you may think that there’s a Monet exhibition happening every other year in London, but that’s actually not true,” he said. “There has not been a monographic exhibition on Monet for nearly 20 years.”
Only last year, more than two dozen Monets were included in a Royal Academy show, Painting the Modern Garden. His masterpieces are on permanent display at the National Gallery and Tate Britain. In 2015, his Water Lilies works were voted the nation’s favourite paintings, ahead of The Hay Wain by Constable and van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Dr Finaldi said: “It’s nearly a generation since he had a show of his own in the capital.
“And I think we can be fairly confident that Monet is an artist who attracts a wide range of the population.
“I think you can’t get enough Monet. He’s such an extraordinary, inventive, beautiful artist, his oeuvre is so wideranging and so influential. I think we should be having Monet exhibitions every 10 years or so.”
The last London show devoted to Monet was held at the Royal Academy in 1999. It was a sensation. Over three months, a record 813,000 visitors flocked to see it – a figure that has never been surpassed – and the takings wiped out the institution’s overdraft. The RA even brought in 24-hour opening to cope with demand.
Next year’s show, which will run from April 9 to July 29, will focus on Monet’s paintings of buildings. There will be three areas of focus: his depictions of the Thames and its bridges, the architecture of Venice, and a series portraying Rouen Cathedral in different lights and weathers.
His paintings of picturesque villages and towns will also feature, including The Douanier’s Cottage, which shows the home of a customs officer overlooking the sea.
The gallery is banking on Monet to draw the crowds after what is expected to be a challenging 2017. Dr Finaldi said visitor numbers were down due to the terror threat, with schools cancelling trips and foreign tourists staying away.
“When something like this happens, schools get very nervous. Parents say, ‘I don’t want my children to go into central London,’” he said. “In terms of
‘I think you can’t get enough Monet... his oeuvre is so influential. We should have an exhibition every 10 years or so’
visitors from abroad – possibly not so much from Europe, because Europeans are hardened and perhaps used to this, but certainly with American and Far Eastern visitors – we’ll see a reduction. They become more cautious.”
The Monet show will be followed by an exhibition devoted to the relationship between the 15th-century artists Giovanni Bellini and Andrea Mantegna.
Other highlights for 2017-18 include a Degas show, featuring 20 paintings on loan from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow; an exhibition devoted to the work of Thomas Cole, the Bolton-born artist who became one of the leading American painters of the mid-19th century; and shows featuring the paintings of Renaissance artist Lorenzo Lotto, Spanish Golden Age painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo, and contemporary artist Ed Ruscha.