At pivotal moments in his career, Claude Monet would go out with a fellow artist, plant his easel beside his friend’s, and paint the same scene. Working side by side, they sought a tenuous balance between similarity and difference. On the one hand, their works needed to look enough alike that they would both capture the real world that both artists saw. On the other, they needed to look sufficiently different that each painter could claim a unique, original style.
Examining paintings made side by side, Harmon Siegel, a junior fellow at Harvard University, shows how Monet explored challenging questions in concrete, practical ways while painting alongside his teachers, Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold Jongkind; his friends Frédéric Bazille and Renoir; and his hero, Édouard Manet. Siegel provides insights into the aesthetic, philosophical, and ethical stakes for these painters as they responded to a rapidly changing society.
Siegel’s book, Painting with Monet (Princeton University Press), is available for purchase.
World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit*
Book Sale Information
- Purchase your copy of Painting with Monet by Harmon Siegel here.
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General Information
*Enrolled participants in the World Art History Certificate Program receive 1/2 elective credit. Not yet enrolled? Learn about the program, its benefits, and how to register here.
