Customer Reviews

Monet: Nature into Art

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is unbelievable in its thoroughness. I read the book over 10 years ago, and I have never read another art book to match it.

This books shows what happens when an inquisitive mind investigates art. It answers not only any question that you had about Monet's art, but even those that you never thought of asking.

For example it addresses the signficance of the expansion of the French Railway system, and the growth of the middle class, in defining the market for art.

It addresses the canvas sizes used by Monet, and his progression from a history painter to a painter of genre paintings ( the one thing that he had in common with Degas ).

I think that the important thing about this book is that it shows that a thorough intellectual non-purely visual approach can be made to the analysis of art, without the use of artspeak. The result is a book that is both readable and informs. Oh what a novelty!

An earlier reviewer made some very nice comments about the text of this book--something I'm unqualified to address because I did not read the words. My focus was on the paintings themselves, which are not well reproduced here. I have seen these same paintings in other books, and the paintings are indeed beautiful. Here, however, the colors are washed-out. If you just need a general representation of Monet's paintings, this book might do. But if you want a much truer view of these great works, look elsewhere.

A fine book, well organized, very informative and in chronological order. Reproductions are okay to good, with pertinent black and white photographic side notes.
It would be, and was used, as a good basic textbook with the exception of the last part of his life that seems sparse in contrast to the rest. This part concerns some of his major innovations that are not really explored with their relevance to art today barely touched upon. Few illustrations in this area, but very good up to this point. Nothing a good basic picture book as a supplement could not fix.

Fascinating book. The first I've read that links Monet's thought processes to his painting techniques to his finished paintings.