It is 1914. Claude Monet sits on a camp stool under a sunshade on his property in Giverny, contemplating the beauty of his Oriental water garden.
Forty years ago, the rebel artist had scandalized Paris with "Impression: Sunrise," the painting that crystallized a movement and inspired its name.
Though initially an epithet hurled by an enraged critic, "impressionism" had become a compliment. Monet, now 66, is revered and prosperous. He has used his means to create landscapes of his own design. The vistas and plantings have become a favorite subject.
The luxuriant flower gardens surrounding his house came first. He later purchased land for the water gardens, and built a world onto itself with imported bamboos, exotic water lilies, weeping willows and a Japanese style footbridge.
A cloud hangs over his paradise, however. The artist who made his name capturing the nuances of color and light, finds his perception of colors and details diminished.
At a friend's urging, he begins painting the water lilies —and, in this his last burst of creative energy, develops a new style.
As you will see when the High Museum's "Monet Water Lilies" opening June 6, the artist dissolves his subject into flurries of brush strokes, liquid color and flattened space. And he increases the scale: One of the four paintings on view is 42-feet-long, the largest water lily painting in the U.S.
The works are loans from the Museum of Modern Art, which will mount a larger version of this exhibit in the fall. The almost abstract paintings set the stage for a series of future exhibitions from MOMA's collections as part of the High's recently announced alliance with the New York museum.
The three-year program will begin in fall 2011 with an exhibition of 12 modern art pioneers from Picasso to Warhol. Though a treat in its own right, this exhibit of a 19th-century pioneer is an apt aperitif.
PREVIEW
"Monet Water Lilies."
June 6-Aug. 23. $18; $15, seniors and students with IDs; $11, children 6-17; free for members and children 5 and under. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays; until 8 p.m. Thursdays; 12-5 p.m. Sundays. High Museum of Art. 1280 Peachtree St. 404-733-4444. www.high.org.
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