Aged 43, eager to renew his inspiration, Claude Monet came to the Riviera for the first time in December 1883 with his friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
The Grimaldi Forum Monaco will celebrate the 140th anniversary of this journey from July 8 to September 3, 2023 by signing "Monet in full light", an exhibition event which will bring together around a hundred paintings, nearly half of which will come from the exceptional support of the Marmottan Monet museum in Paris.
Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir left Paris on December 10, 1883. They traveled from Marseille to Genoa, with stops in Hyères, Saint-Raphaël, Monaco and Bordighera. On the way back, they stop at L'Estaque where they visit Paul Cézanne, where he has been staying regularly since 1876.
Conquered by the light and color he discovered, Claude Monet returned to Bordighera on January 17, 1884, after having written to his art dealer and patron Paul Durand Ruel: "I ask you not to speak of this trip to anyone , not that I want to make it a mystery, but I want to do it alone. As much as it was pleasant for me to make the trip as a tourist with Renoir, it would be embarrassing for me to do it together for the purpose of working... I leave filled with ardor, it seems to me that I will do wonderful things".
Claude Monet will return to Giverny on April 15, 1884, after a stay of about ten days in Menton and a production during his stay of about fifty paintings.
The exhibition teaser
A section of the exhibition will be devoted to the paintings created during his stays on the Riviera, through eighteen loans of exceptional works exhibited for the first time close to the still preserved sites where they were painted. The exhibition will also put into perspective the work of the master, from his youth in Le Havre to the last paintings of Giverny.
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