Monet - by Jackie Wullschläger (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A groundbreaking look at the life and art of one of the most influential and modern painters of the late nineteenth century and founder of the Impressionist movement. Drawing on thousands of never-before translated letters and unpublished sources, this new biography reveals dramatic new information about the life and work of one of the late 19th century's most important painters. Despite being mocked at the beginning of his career, and living hand to mouth, Monet risked all to pursue his vision, and his early work along the banks of the Seine in the 1860s-70s would come to be revered as Impressionism. In the following decades, he emerged as a celebrated leader of the new painting in one of the most exciting cultural moments in Paris, before withdrawing to his house and garden to paint the late Water Lilies, which were ignored during his lifetime and would later would have a major influence on all 20th century painters both figurative and abstract. This is the first time we see the turbulent life of this volatile and voracious man who was as obsessed by his love affairs as he was by nature. He changed his art three times when the women at the center of his life changed with a nod to the behavior of such painters as Picasso. His closest friend was Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau but Proust as well as Zola, Renoir, Pissarro and Manet were also a part of his life. Brilliant and absorbing, this biography will forever change our understanding of Monet's life and work"--

Book Synopsis

A groundbreaking look at the life and art of one of the most influential, modern painters of the late nineteenth century and founder of the Impressionist movement

"Wullschläger emerges with a strikingly different picture of the artist. Passionate, prickly, edgy and unstable, her Monet, the unrecognizable Monet, is a powerful new character in art." --The Sunday Times (London)

Drawing on thousands of never-before-translated letters and unpublished sources, this biography reveals dramatic new information about the life and work of one of the late nineteenth century's most important painters. Despite being mocked at the beginning of his career, and living hand to mouth, Monet risked all to pursue his vision, and his early work along the banks of the Seine in the 1860s and '70s would come to be revered as Impressionism. In the following decades, he emerged as its celebrated leader in one of the most exciting cultural moments in Paris, before withdrawing to his house and garden to paint the late Water Lilies, which were ignored during his lifetime and would later have a major influence on all twentieth-century painters both figurative and abstract.

This is the first time we see the turbulent life of this volatile and voracious man, who was as obsessed by his love affairs as he was by nature. He changed his art decisively three times when the woman at the center of his life changed; Wullschläger brings these unknown, passionate, and passionately committed women to the foreground. Monet's closest friend was Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau; strong intellectual currents connected him to writers from Zola to Proust, as well as to his friends Manet, Renoir, and Pissarro. Brilliant and absorbing, this biography will forever change our understanding of Monet's life and work.

Review Quotes

WINNER OF THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY AND THE FRANCO BRITISH SOCIETY AWARD

"Lively... Provocative... To the wider world, Monet was a placid voluptuary, not a tormented rebel. By excavating the artist's unexpectedly messy inner life, Wullschläger... sets out to upend this view... Artful."
―Hugh Eakin, The New York Times

"Jackie Wullschläger's Monet: The Restless Vision... could be called an Impressionist biography of the central Impressionist... Every few chapters, a sudden nub of detail robs you of your breath... Monet may be the first artist biography I've encountered in which this kind of thing isn't just readable but sexy."
―Jackson Arn, The New Yorker

"Splendidly researched and shrewdly insightful."
―Dan Hofstadter, The Wall Street Journal

"Sumptuous... a portrait of anartist mercurial and materialist, ambitious and conceited, yet unstintingly loyal to all in his orbit... Wullschläger avoids attempting an exhaustive account; why weigh down her book with gratuitous details? She prefers to delight."
―Hamilton Cain, LA Times

"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."
―Booklist, starred

"Wullschläger... bring[s] 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."
―Publishers Weekly

UK PRAISE:

THE TIMES, THE SUNDAY TIMES, THE TELEGRAPH, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, THE ECONOMIST, THE EVENING STANDARD and THE TABLET BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

"Wullschläger writes magnificently ... Years of looking, together with masses of original research, have yielded a richly detailed book that will be invaluable for years to come."
―Sue Prideaux, Literary Review

"Magical... Usually when reviewing a big biography I feel relieved at the end. This time I felt bereft ... This is a book to be savoured like an orange candied in honey ... It's an intoxicating read."
― Laura Freeman, The Times

"By delving deep into his correspondence and researching his life in detail, Wullschläger emerges with a strikingly different portrait of the artist. Passionate, edgy, prickly and unstable, her Monet, the unrecognisable Monet, is a powerful new character in art.
― Waldemar Januszcyck, Sunday Times

"Jackie Wullschläger's rich and detailed biography... Beautifully illustrated... has done Monet the service of turning him back into a rounded human being."
―Christopher Bray, Mail on Sunday

"Enthralling ... A brutally clear-headed portrait of Monet, headstrong, headlong, ferociously ambitious, complete with all his foibles."
―Michael Glover, Tablet

About the Author

JACKIE WULLSCHLÄGER is Chief Art Critic of the Financial Times. She is the author of the prizewinning Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller and Chagall: Life and Exile, which won the Spear's Biography of the Year Award, and was short-listed for the Costa Biography Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She lives in London.