Michel Monet

Michel Monet au bonnet à pompon. Oil on canvas, Claude Monet, 1880, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
Le jardin de Monet à Vétheuil, with Michel Monet and Jean-Pierre Hoschedé. Oil on canvas, Claude Monet, 1880. National Gallery of Art, Washington

Michel Monet (17 March 1878 – 3 February 1966) was the son of Claude Monet and Camille Doncieux Monet.

Early life

Born on 17 March 1878, 26 rue d'Édimbourg, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, where the Monets had moved from Argenteuil, Michel Monet was the youngest of Claude and Camille Monet's two sons. His mother's already failing health worsened after his birth, and she died on 5 September 1879, probably of uterine cancer.[1][2] Michel's elder brother, Jean, was born in 1867.[3]

Since 1877, year of Ernest Hoschedé's bankruptcy, Alice Hoschedé and her six children had been living with the Monets. The two families moved from Paris to Vétheuil in August 1878, and after Camille's death in 1879, Monet, Alice and the eight children, continued living together. In 1881, they moved to Poissy and, in April 1883, to Giverny.[4] Alice managed the household and supervised the education of the Monet and Hoschedé children.[5]

Paintings by Claude Monet that include Michel

World War I

Michel Monet and his step-brother Jean-Pierre Hoschedé served in the French Army during World War I.[6]

Marriage

Michel Monet married Gabrielle Bonaventure in 1927.[7] The couple had no children. Gabrielle died 2 February 1964.[8]

Claude Monet estate

When Claude Monet died in 1926, as his sole heir, Michel inherited the entire estate.[9] Michel never spent time in Giverny, and Blanche Hoschedé Monet, his stepsister and sister-in-law, became the caretaker of the house and garden until her death in 1947. Louis Lebret, who had been Monet's head gardener, stayed on to help Blanche. After her death, the garden was neglected.

Death

Michel Monet, a car enthusiast, died in a car crash in nearby Vernon on 3 February 1966, a few weeks before his 88th birthday. He had bequeathed the estate to the Académie des beaux-arts. From 1977 onwards, Gérald Van der Kemp, then curator at the Château de Versailles, played a key role in the restoration of Claude Monet's house and gardens, which had been left in a desolate state. In a bid to raise funds, he and his wife Florence appealed to American donors through the "Versailles Foundation-Giverny Inc."[10]

In 1966, Michel Monet had left to the Musée Marmottan Monet his own collection of his father's work, thus creating the world's largest collection of Monet paintings.

Michel Monet is buried in Claude Monet's vault in the Giverny cemetery, which adjoins the village Sainte Radegonde church.[2] In the vault are buried, Claude Monet and his second wife Alice, Alice's first husband Ernest Hoschedé, Michel's wife Gabrielle, his brother Jean, and his sister-in-law Blanche.[11]

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "Camille Doncieux". monetpainting.net. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
    2. 1 2 Michel Monet (1878-1966). Find a Grave. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
    3. ↑ "Monet biography - timeline". Giverny.org. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
    4. ↑ Museyon Guides (1 July 2011). Art + Paris Impressionists & Post-Impressionists: The Ultimate Guide to Artists, Paintings and Places in Paris and Normandy. Museyon Guides. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-938450-24-2.
    5. ↑ Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1978. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-87099-174-5.
    6. ↑ Matthias Arnold (2005). Monet. Haus Publishing. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-904950-35-6.
    7. ↑ Museyon Guides (1 July 2011). Art + Paris Impressionists & Post-Impressionists: The Ultimate Guide to Artists, Paintings and Places in Paris and Normandy. Museyon Guides. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-938450-24-2.
    8. ↑ "Gabrielle Monet". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
    9. ↑ "Giverny Monet's garden - Restoring Monet's house and garden". Giverny.org. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
    10. ↑ "The Versailles Foundation & Giverny". Theversaillesfoundationinc.com. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
    11. ↑ "Monets at Giverny Church Cemetery". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
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