Starting today, Monet admirers in New York can view a small – but intense - sample of his vast work at the MoMA. Four art works from the famed water lily paintings as well as two smaller canvases on loan from the Metropolitan Museum are on display for the first time in eight years.
My friend and blog partner Alexandra Forbes (author of Brazil for Insiders) went to the members preview night last week, and enjoyed strawberry sangrias, bread sticks and a first glance at the 40 foot wide gallery on the second floor dedicated to this intense installation of Monet’s late work. She even made a little film of the soirée:
It makes sense to have these works secluded from the rest of the impressionists. It’s a dive into an era of change. The triptych is a precursor to an abstract take on his well-known pond interpretations, a blast of blues, blended with a wide range of lavenders and green hues, dotted by yellow and white blotches. If an alien who did now know who Monet was, or had never heard the title of this exhibition was placed in front of the “Water Lilies” three-canvas mural, he might thing this is an abstract oeuvre dated post WWII. It is definitely worth a visit. If you can, make a resie at The Modern, one of my favorite restaurants in the city, and definitely top three in Midtown.
“Monet’s Water Lilies” at the Museum of Modern Art, (212) 708-9400.
September 13, 2009–April 12, 2010
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