Monet Exhibition at Giverny Museum Explores Artist's Formative Years Before Water Lilies

The Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny is presenting 'Avant les nymphéas. Monet découvre Giverny, 1883-1890,' an exhibition examining Claude Monet's early period in the village before he created his famous Water Lilies series. Running from March 27 to July 5, 2026, the show features 25 works, including loans from American museums in Richmond and Atlanta and Japanese institutions in Tokyo and Kurashiki. Curators Cyrille Sciama and Marie Delbarre have organized the exhibition to demonstrate how Monet developed his approach to landscape during these seven years, moving from broad vistas to intimate floral studies. Key works include the rare 1886 'Autoportrait au béret' and paintings like 'Champ de coquelicots à Giverny' (1885), 'Les Peupliers à Giverny' (1887), and 'Les Meules à Giverny, soleil couchant' (1888-1889). The exhibition highlights Monet's focus on capturing light variations, reflections on water, and color harmonies while repeatedly painting motifs like haystacks and poplars. It concludes with two versions of 'Pivoines' (1887), displayed together for the first time, which curators describe as having an 'all-over' composition. The show explores why Monet chose Giverny—a village 75 kilometers from Paris that allowed him to maintain connections with his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and Impressionist circles while developing his artistic vision in relative seclusion. This period marks his transition from figurative elements to pure landscape, ultimately leading to the Water Lilies series that would bring him international recognition.