Claude Monet

This exhibition offers a sensitive and contemporary reinterpretation of the legacy of the master of Giverny, drawing parallels between his work and the perspectives of artists from around the world who share a similar fascination with light, gardens, and color. This landmark exhibition has been conceived to mark the centennial of Claude Monet’s death.

Drawing on exceptional loans from the collections of the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Marmottan, the museums of Dreux and Saint-Étienne, and the Arab World Institute, among others, the exhibition creates a dialogue between Monet’s works and those of artists who claim to be his spiritual heirs. From Japan to North Africa, from Europe to North America, the exhibition reveals the universality and vitality of a legacy that has continually transcended borders and generations.

The garden envisioned by Monet—which he extensively redesigned himself—is in itself a painting composed of living materials, a work in perpetual transformation. By immersing themselves in this reimagined natural setting, contemporary photographers and artists have rediscovered the key themes and characteristics of the painter’s art: a passion for reality and a poetic sensibility, along with a keen sense of the random and the elusive. Each work becomes not a spectacle, but an immersive environment where visitors experience new sensations, as if they were fully immersed.

Curated by: Nathalie Bondil, Director of the Museum and Exhibitions at the Arab World Institute; Stéphane Guégan, Scientific Advisor to the President of the Musée d’Orsay; and Annie Madet-Vache, Director of the Musée des Franciscaines, assisted by EmmaCrayssac, Head of Exhibition Production.