When Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature opened at the Denver Art Museum (DAM) on October 21, the Colorado venue became the only U.S. site to host the most comprehensive collection of the French artist’s work in more than two decades.
Currently on view through February 2, 2020, the landmark exhibition presents approximately 120 works by Claude Monet (1840–1926), one of the celebrated founders and foremost figures of French impressionism. (This 19th-century art movement focused on everyday scenes painted with attention to atmospheric conditions, such as light flickering on water, moving clouds above the sea, or gusts of wind rustling through grassy meadows.)
For the exhibition, more than 20,000 square feet of DAM’s gallery spaces are filled with works spanning the entirety of Monet’s career, from View from Rouelles, the first painting the French artist ever exhibited at age 18, to The House Seen through the Roses, a piece he completed in 1926 just weeks before his death.
“View from Rouelles” (1858) was the first painting Monet ever exhibited, when he was 18 years old.
Courtesy of the Denver Art Museum
Co-organized by DAM and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany, the exclusive show examines Monet’s relationship with nature through his detailed depictions of the destinations he visited across Europe. “Throughout his career, Monet was indefatigable in his exploration of the different moods of nature, seeking to capture the spirit of a certain place and translating its truth onto the canvas,” said DAM’s chief curator Angelica Daneo.
According to the show’s curators, Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature pays special attention to “the increasing abandonment of any human presence” in the landscapes Monet painted, from the Normandy coast and the Mediterranean to Norway and the Netherlands.
Monet designed the Giverny garden that appears in his 1899 painting “Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge.”
Courtesy of the Denver Art Museum
When tickets to the massive Monet exhibition first became available to purchase online this June, DAM reportedly experienced its highest-ever website traffic. The Denver museum’s senior communications manager Shadia Lemus told Colorado Public Radio News that a number of time slots sold out less than a week after going on sale, including the first full Saturday of the exhibition. “We haven’t seen this level of excitement this far in advance of an art exhibition before at the museum,” Lemus said at the time.
Now that the landmark exhibit is officially on view, tickets are still available to purchase—but they’re selling fast. Most of the November dates are sold out entirely, and various timed entry slots are booked up through the end of the run in February. (Tickets can be reserved through DAM’s website; exhibit hours vary depending on the day.)
After the exhibition’s only U.S. run comes to an end in Denver this February, Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature will move to Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany, during spring 2020.
Admission to Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature at the Denver Art Museum costs $27 for adults and $5 for youth between six and 18 years old; no charge for children ages five and under. Audio guides, available in English in Spanish, are included with the price of the ticket.
This article originally appeared online in August 2019; it was updated on November 5, 2019, to include current information.
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