Monet in his element

The effects of sunlight in art: Claude Monet's series of paintings depicting Rouen Cathedral in different atmospheres and at different times of day is a high point of Impressionist painting. The series was created in the early 1890s, during the phase of late Impressionism, when the style was spreading throughout Europe and also in the USA. The first Impressionist tendencies can be found among various painters from the middle of the 19th century. They sought new forms of expression and motifs that came closer to the core of painting and broke away from academic painting, which was perceived as old-fashioned. Claude Monet (1840-1926) became the figurehead of this movement. It was not least due to his efforts that the first Impressionist exhibition was held in 1874, which ultimately gave the movement its name. In Monet in Focus, the Cleveland Museum of Art presents works from the artist's later creative phase. Works from the collection and works on loan will be on display from March 31 to August 11.

Born in Paris, Monet broke away from the realist painting he had learned as a young man during the 1860s and increasingly painted in an impressionist style. In 1870, Monet fled from the Franco-Prussian War to London, where he studied paintings by the famous William Turner (1775-1851), whose light-dominated pictures had a great influence on Monet. In the years following the First Impressionist Exhibition, Monet slowly achieved financial success, which enabled him to continue his artistic experiments. The works exhibited here date from this period and illustrate Monet's demands on painting in its purest form.