Monet's "Weeping Willow" was filmed, is the rich picture related to cataracts?

Christie's Hong Kong announced that it will present Monet's late-life masterpiece "Weeping Willow" at the spring auction on May 26.

Between 1918 and 1919, Monet created 10 works with the theme of "weeping willows" in his Giverny Garden, but the style of these "weeping willows" is very different from our Chinese aesthetic cognition of weeping willows, and the color is so rich that it is like a monument, which is estimated to be related to his cataracts in his later years.

Claude Monet, Oil on Weeping Willow, 1918-1919

The scale of "Weeping Willow" photographed this time is 130×110 centimeters, and the painting is very full, and the whole picture is completely shrouded by the trunk and leaves of the weeping willow, revealing a rich dark green. If you don't tell you that it was painted by Monet, if you guess only by the picture, you will probably think that this is an expressionist work.

The "Weeping Willow" series and the "Water Lilies" series were both created by Monet at the peak of his art in his later years. Monet's "Water Lilies" series has more than 250 works, while the "Weeping Willows" series has only 10 pieces in total, so it is not common.

Claude Monet, Weeping Willows and Water Lilies, oil painting, 1916-1919

In Monet's "Weeping Willow and Water Lily Pond", people can appreciate that the water lily and the weeping willow are in the same picture, and the horizontal composition of the water lily and the vertical weeping willow constitute a unique picture. In this painting "Weeping Willow", you can also see a small water lily pond in the lower right of the picture.

Part of "Weeping Willow"

In this "Weeping Willow", Monet's swaying brushstrokes show strong tension, dancing in a thick layer of pictures. The tall and calm weeping willows set the momentum for the picture to rise proudly, and the hanging branches and leaves pour down like a sparkling waterfall. The delicate balance between the calm and majestic trunk and the delicate water lily pond shadow in the lower right corner, the dappled colors sprinkled by the sunlight through the leaves, and the oppressive power in the air make "Weeping Willow" an unforgettable work.

The reason why the "Weeping Willow" series is so dark and tense is also a record of Monet's mood in his later years after being in the storm of the First World War and encountering the separation of his family.

In his later years, Monet created in the Garden of Giverny

In his later years, Monet basically stopped leaving Giverny to travel around, in large part because of his attachment to his family. In 1911, Monet, who was in his seventies, suffered the death of his second wife, Alice; in 1914, his eldest son Jean; the outbreak of World War I in the same year caused Monet's two children to go to war; and other handymen in the family fled to escape the war. And Monet, as the head of the extended family, stuck to Giverny, saying, no matter what, I will stay here. If the barbarians want to take my life, I will die in the painting before my life's work is crystallized.

Monet and his wife Alice

Monet was in the studio

During this time, Monet began to create the "Weeping Willow" series, most of which have obscure colors and distorted and struggling forms, which are the "battles" that Monet conducts in his studio. Art critics believe that the "Weeping Willow" work reflects Monet's keen senses, showing the battle between light and darkness, these scenes are full of emotion, but also the trembling of pain and fear, and the picture is full of hope and the power of resistance, in the infinite grief, forming a picture full of resilience.

Weeping willows in Monet's garden

The strong painting style of "Weeping Willow" also reflects the influence of Monet's eye disease on his paintings in his later years. In 1912, Monet was blinded by cataracts in his right eye, and the situation in his left eye was not optimistic, but he did not dare to undergo surgery. Because cataracts affected Monet's sense of color, he always felt that the paint was not thick enough, so that his painting style during this time changed, and the colors were much more intense than before. Just like people with taste failures who cook vegetables, they always add more salt, people with poor hearing often speak very loudly, And Monet's eyesight has decreased, making his colors more intense, but it has created a unique way of expression, which has a profound impact on later generations of expressionist and abstract expressionist masters such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Joan Michelle.

Other works in Monet's "Weeping Willows" series

Monet's "Weeping Willow" series has a total of 10 works, 5 of which are treasured in the Kinbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Mamodan Museum in France and other institutions, and this "Weeping Willow" is one of the other 5 private collections of "Weeping Willow" series.

Christie's Hong Kong will put the weeping willow at the Evening Sale of 20th and 21st Century Art on 26 May, with an estimated value of HK$95 million to HK$135 million.