SHOW ME THE MONET

       The impressionist master's inspiration is revealed in an exhibition that places his greatest paintings alongside works from Japan

       In the 1870s, a flood of Japanese exotic art and handicrafts poured into European galleries as Japan opened up to the world after centuries of isolation. The philosophy of simplicity and respect for nature it brought fascinated numerous European artists including Vincent Claude Monet.
       Monet was particularly attracted by Japanese naturalism, and quickly built a collection of 276 ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings. He explained his love affair with Japanese art thus: "If you absolutely must find an affiliation for me, select the Japanese of olden times; their rarefied taste, their aesthetic that evokes a presence by means of a shadow, and the whole by means of a fragment. They are a profoundly artistic people."
       Exploring the "father of impressionism's" relationship with Japanese art is a must-see show at the Palazzo Reale in Milan. "Monet and Japan, the Time of Water Lilies" showcases 20 paintings, an extraordinary loan from the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris. The museum is the home of the world's largest collection of Monet's water lily paintings and has never granted so many for a single show.
       Hanging alongside them are 56 Japanese prints by renowned Japanese ukiyo-e artists Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, on loan from Paris's Musee Guimet. And more insight into Monet's inspiration is offered by an extremely rare selection of hand-painted 19th-century photographs of Japanese gardens, on loan from an Italian private collection.
       Monet's water lily series was mostly painted between 1900 and 1923 in his enchanting garden in Giverny, a tiny village in northern France that he had first seen through a train window and immediately fallen in love with.
       He moved his family into a rented house in the village but by 1890 had made enough money from painting to purchase the house and the land around it. He dedicated himself to creating a spectacular garden, shaping nature according to his artistic tastes. His neighbour, who studied Japanese art and land-scaping, helped him obtain exotic plants for the pond, putting him in contact in Japanese nursery gardeners. He built a humped-back bridge, copied from those he'd seen depicted in Japanese prints. He also bought a small boat to serve as a bateau atelier, or "boat studio", allowing him to paint while out on the water.
       Monet's garden on the lake is considered an example of a traditional Japanese "cup garden", where the water forms the bottom of the cup and the plants its sides. These days it's a popular visitor attraction, along with his old house, where works by Utamsro, Hokusai and Hiroshige still hang on the walls.
       On completion ofh is natural masterpiece, Monet exclaimed, "I am filled with delight, Giverny is a splendid spot for me."
       He spent the rest of his life in this private paradise, trying to capture the garden's beauty - the bridge, trees, water lilies, cherry blossoms and pond - on canvas. His obsession with the water lilies was particularly strong and fuelled countless renditions of these delicate flowers, including his giant masterpiece, the 90-metre-long waterscape of 22 panels that winds through two oval rooms at Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris - the so-called Sistine Chapel of Impressionism.
       Though he painted the same subject over and over, for Monet, no two scenes were ever alike as the play of light in different weather conditions transformed what he saw. But he insisted that his subject keep still, and one of his seven gardeners was assigned the special task of repositioning water lilies that floated downstream during the hours he dedicated to painting. He once said, "These landscapes of water and reflections have become an obsession. It is beyond my powers as an old man and yet I want to arrive at rendering what I feel. I again ... And I hope something will finally come from so many efforts."
       The lush green, blue, pink and purple painted water lilies in the exhibition reflect just that - his vigorous, endless attempts to capture the beauty and grace of nature at different hours of the day.
       The paintings are arranged according to theme: water lilies, willows, the pond and Japanese bridges, and appear alongside the Japanese prints. As visitors progress through the exhibition, they appreciate more and more Monet's deep engagement with Japanese art, history and philosophy.
       Although seeing so many similar pictures left this reviewer with art fatigue left this reviewer with art fatigue at times, the chance to examine Monet's splotches and brushstrokes, his unusual colour combinations, and even live footage of him working by the pond, brought the painter's passion to life. Witnessing the work of a man who spent decades trying to capture the perfect light on his canvases gave me the sensation of floating along in a dreamlike paradies.

       AT A GLANCE
       "Monet and Japan, the Time of Water Lilies" is on display every day at the Palazzo Reale Milan until September 27. For a glimpse of the show, visit www.MostraMonet.it/gallery.php.