Two major exhibitions on Claude Monet have opened in Europe, with London’s Courtauld Gallery showcasing his iconic Thames series and Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie focusing on his rare Paris cityscapes.
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00:26It starts with a series of three paintings by Monet,
00:31which all deal with the modern theme of the city of Paris in turmoil.
00:36This is special because Monet is actually considered
00:39to be the most famous landscape painter of the Impressionists.
00:56♫
01:21Thirty years after his first visit in 1899,
01:24he came back and now he was a very wealthy man,
01:27able to afford the Savoy Hotel right on the Thames,
01:31and he had long wanted to paint what he called some fog effects on the Thames,
01:36and he was able to do so at the turn of the century.
01:40♫
01:47Monet absolutely loved London,
01:49and indeed he said he loved London most in the wintertime
01:52because it just had this incredible effect.
01:57The fog merged with the smoke belching from the factories on the South Bank,
02:02with the steam of the trains passing over the bridges,
02:06indeed with the steamboats on the river,
02:09and all of that with gusts of wind kind of mixed together
02:14to create this incredible kind of shroud and veil,
02:18and Monet absolutely loved that.
02:20And he said that the challenge was to capture those effects.
02:24He said they were extraordinary effects,
02:26but none lasting more than five minutes.
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