Venice, Monet “returns” after a hundred years. His Health on display at the Gritti hotel
A stop in the middle of the four-day exhibition of the 59th Biennale art The milk of dreams. And the dream painting: The Grand Canal and Santa Maria della Salute (1908) by Claude Monet, one of the thirty-seven glimpses that the impressionist painter made over a hundred years ago during his stay in Venice with his second wife Alice. To bring it back on Wednesday 20 April, a few steps from where the subject was taken (the steps of Palazzo Barbaro), the auction house Sotheby’s, which organized a private event for the occasion at the Gritti hotel. A dinner, co-hosted by Charles Stewart, chief executive of Sotheby’s, Brooke Lampley and Olivia Walton, newly appointed president of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
The first appearance
Only a few days ago the painting made its first appearance in a real one world tour in Taipei (Taiwan): now it will reach Hong Kong (from 8 to 11 April) and after Venice it will stop from 23 to 26 April in London, then it will reach New York from 6 May, where it will be auctioned on 17 during the Modern Evening Auction. The auction house expects the painting to reach a figure of around 50 million dollars: numbers not far from the 50.8 million dollars beaten last November for Coin du bassin aux nymphas of 1918 and Le Bassin aux nymphs, which was instead sold for 70.4 million dollars in May 2021. The one that will go to auction in New York is one of the six paintings in the series that Monet created from the steps of Palazzo Barbaro, starring the Basilica della Salute. Monet’s acclaimed series of paintings are among the most instantly recognizable in the world. Among these, his views of Venice are perhaps the most fascinating, channeling the magic of the city onto the canvas, comments Helena Newman, president of Sotheby’s Europe and world head of impressionist and modern art at the auction house.
The collections of international museums
Many of the canvases made by Monet during the three-month trip in the lagoon are found in important collections of international museums, such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Fine Art Museums in San Francisco. In Venice, don’t forget the retrospective that the Biennale dedicated to the Impressionists in 1948. Few artists have captured the popular imagination as strongly as Claude Monet – emphasizes Julian Dawes, head of modern art at Sotheby’s America – Bathing the eternal city of water in sublime light and iridescent pigments, Monet anticipated lyrical abstractions and the bold coloring that would define artistic progress in the second half of the twentieth century. His brushwork alludes to the later genius of artists such as Rothko, Mitchell, Richter and Thiebaud.
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April 6, 2022 (change April 6, 2022 | 16:04)
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