Le Meurice
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LEGENDARY ARTISTS
Monet
As the hotel of artists and thinkers, this is one of a series of walking tours with Le Meurice following in the footsteps of legendary artists in Paris.
LET THE DISCOVERY BEGIN
CLAUDE MONET, LES TUILERIES
Oil on canvas, 1876 – Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
Monet – Revolutionary Brushstrokes
From the rooftops of Le Meurice, you can look out across the gardens of the Louvre to discover a view remarkably close to that which Claude Monet captured in all its glory on a fine day in 1876 with ‘Les Tuileries’.
Le Meurice invites you to share in our serendipitous location and enjoy an exclusive opportunity to view the city of Paris through the eyes of one of France’s greatest ever painters – Claude Monet – with a private walking tour designed exclusively for our guests.
Your knowledgeable guide will take you on a journey back in time, to discover why an artist whose work is almost universally admired today was considered so radical and rebellious in his day.
Our story takes us from Monet’s arrival in Paris in 1862 at the age of 22, having finished his military service in Algeria, through to the birth and formation of the group of artists who would become known as the Impressionists: their repeated rejections from the official annual Salon exhibition by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and their determination to succeed independently.
Your walk will conclude at the Musée de l’Orangerie, just a stone’s throw from Le Meurice, amidst the jaw-droppingly beautiful and immersive water-lily panels, which mark the audacious culmination of Monet’s prolific work.
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What’s the first word that springs to mind when Monet’s name is mentioned? A betting man might suggest ‘painter’ or ‘Impressionist’. Perhaps ‘landscape’ or ‘water-lily’.
Most people would happily wager that ‘rebel’ would not be high up the list.
Your guide would argue, however, that rebelliousness was in fact one of Monet’s most defining characteristics; rebellion against his father’s choice of career, of wife, of religion. Against the traditional teachings of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Against the opinions of critics. Against the effects of cataracts, even, in his old age.
It was his rebellious nature that allowed him to develop the rapid, loose brushwork of his experimental ‘plein-air’ painting technique; to reimagine the colour of shadows; to build a floating studio on a boat; to paint previously overlooked subjects from everyday life; to co-found the independent Salon des Refusés exhibition; and to reclaim and even own the term ‘Impressionist’, which was originally used against him in disparaging tones by the critics.
Armed with historic photographs, quotes and pictures to transport you back in time, your guide will talk you through key paintings made at each site along the route, telling all these tales and more.
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CLAUDE MONET, BAIN À LA GRENOUILLÈRE
Oil on canvas, 1869 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
CLAUDE MONET, LA GARE SAINT-LAZARE Oil on canvas, 1877 – Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Monet lived through Baron Haussmann’s sweeping architectural transformation of the city of Paris.
For a young man who had grown up along the coast of Normandy, the City of Light provided fertile ground for inspiration.
Monet found himself at the cutting edge of the changes that transformed his generation and life as they knew it. Indeed, the scale, techniques, compositional devices and subject matter of his work all reveal the influence of a vast array of 19th-century inventions, from the seemingly insignificant – such as paint that was now available in transportable tubes – to the more grandiose: photography, trains and even weekend leisure time for the working classes.
Over the course of your stroll through the gardens, quaysides and boulevards of Paris, you will encounter sites, scenes and characters – friends, critics and patrons – which inspired the young Monet and set him and his contemporaries on the path towards Impressionism: a new way of seeing, and, above all, a new attitude, one which changed the course of modern art forever.
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Enjoy a private walking tour created exclusively for guests of Le Meurice.
Your passionate, knowledgeable guide has over ten years of experience in the art world and can adapt the pace and content of the tour to you. For all levels of interest, from the mildly curious, seeking easy conversation and a stroll through the picturesque streets of Paris, to Monet aficionados wanting to follow in the footsteps of the legendary artist and find answers to their burning questions.
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PORTRAIT OF CLAUDE MONET IN HIS GIVERNY STUDIO, 1920
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
Monet – Revolutionary Brushstrokes includes:
One-night stay in a room or suite for two American breakfast, including Cédric Grolet pastries
Two-hour expert guided tour
Two entry tickets to Musée de l’Orangerie
For reservations or information, please contact Le Meurice: + 33 (0)1 87 16 44 59 reservations.LMP@dorchestercollection.com
Tours can be extended to a full day or split over two half-days on request with a supplement. Offer subject to availability and terms & conditions. Entry to Musée de l’Orangerie excludes Tuesdays when the museum is closed.
IMAGE CREDITS:
Étienne Carjat, Portrait of Claude Monet, c. 1864/65. Image courtesy of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Paris.
Claude Monet, Les Tuileries, 1876. Image courtesy of Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.
Claude Monet, Bain à la Grenouillère, 1869. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929. © 2020 The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY/Scala, Florence.
Claude Monet, La Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Accepted by the French state as part of the legacy of Gustave Caillebotte.
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski.
Portrait of Claude Monet in his Giverny studio, 1920. Image courtesy of Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.