Claude Monet at Vetheuil

The recent exhibitions of Monet's work have centred on his Series paintings and then Water Lilies. David Joel has worked on this period over many years at Vetheuil. Monet lived there for four years and it was there that his first wife Camille, immortalized in over 70 paintings, died of cancer leaving their two young boys. They had shared their small house with the recently bankrupted Hoschede family of which Alice was the mainspring. Years later, when Ernest Hoschede died, Monet was to marry Alice. Never before or after did Monet work so hard over a period of five years. With his dealer's assistance he finally triumphed and was able to rent his home at Giverny and buy it later on. Despite the numerous books on Monet, this period at Vetheuil has never before, in English, been examined in detail. It was Monet's most productive period, for of the 350 pictures made in the 5 years, over 130 are now in the world's great galleries. This work attempts to provide a new insight into the life of Claude Monet.