Monet's style secret: his poor eyesight

Mark Prigg, Evening Standard

16.05.07

Scientists believe they have discovered the secret behind the work of Claude
Monet, one of the founders of Impressionist painting. The artist is known to have
suffered from cataracts but new research shows how much and for how long this
could have had an effect and how it may have produced his distinctive style.
Researchers recreated Monet's Water-Lily Pond as he would have seen it. The
pond was the subject of a series of canvases which Monet exhibited in 1900 at
the age of 60.

Using computer software to mimic the effect of cataracts, the picture was blurred
and the colours varied, creating dark, muddy shades of yellow-green. The experts
said the results showed how badly Monet's vision may have been affected before
he had surgery.

"He couldn't really judge what he was seeing," said Professor Michael Marmor,
who led the study at Stanford University in California. "Monet's vision was
becoming progressively more brownish in essence. It was getting harder to see
and more blurred, but he was probably more bothered by the progressive loss of
colour vision than the blur alone."

Paintings that show a use of very strong colours, and so were somewhat out of
character, were used for the study in the Archives of Ophthalmology journal.
Professor Marmor said: "Monet may have used strong colours in these paintings
because he was using them from memory or because he was overcompensating
for his yellow vision by adding more blue." Experts at the National Gallery
agreed the research could help explain part of Monet's style. Chris Riopelle,
curator of 19th century paintings, said: "I think there has always been a great
mystery behind Monet and how much influence his eyesight problems had on his
work. This is a great insight.

"However, it does not entirely answer the questions - after surgery, Monet's style
did not alter radically. He also painted for 60 years before having problems, so
developed a vast amount of skill. There will always be something of a mystery
here." Monet was diagnosed with cataracts in 1912 but did not have surgery until
1923. He died three years later. He destroyed many paintings created when his
vision was at its worst, although he had done this before his eye problems.
The secret of Monet's style, part II

Louise Jury, Evening Standard

14.06.07

His paintings are famously blurry and it was always thought the cataracts that
afflicted Claude Monet were responsible. Last month, American scientists even
revealed just how badly the great French Impressionist's distinctive style was
affected by his condition. Now it has emerged that London's weather may also
have contributed. Christie's is auctioning letters that recorded the artist's
struggles with thick fog when he painted one of his famous views of the River
Thames.

They were written to his wife Alice in France in 1901 on headed notepaper from
the Savoy Hotel, where he was staying. Monet made it clear that poor weather
was hampering the work that was to become worth millions.

On Friday 8 February, he wrote: "Today the sun did not show itself and that really
both-ered me. The fog was very thick the whole day, even though I remained
conscientiously on the look-out, having my lunch brought up to me for fear that a
break in the weather might occur while I was in the restaurant, but in spite of
everything the day was not much good ..."

What was particularly stupid, Monet noted, was that the weather was fine but the
sun was obstructed by one of London's infamous pea-soupers. The next was day
was no better: "Another day of complete fog without seeing very much at all."
But he was slightly more cheery by the following Monday when he reported good
progress, although the work remained hard. "The weather is still very fine, the
effects highly variable because of this marvellous mist," he wrote.

Monet's spirits had been raised by a visit to the Café Royal with the writer George
Moore. He also passed on news of a poor British showing in the Boer War gleaned
from a hotel waiter. The artist later adapted to the weather and eventually
declared: "What I like most of all in London is the fog."

The three letters are expected to make up to £7,000 when they are sold by
Christie's in London on 3 July. Monet made three visits to the capital between
1899 and 1901, when he worked on his great series, Views Of The Thames. These
include works such as The Waterloo Bridge, which is due to be sold in London
next week. The artist wrote many letters describing the first few days of his
second trip.

These were owned by the late Albin Schram, a wealthy Austrian banker, who also
owned letters written by Lord Byron, Winston Churchill, John Donne, Charles
Dickens, Elizabeth I, Sigmund Freud, Gandhi, Napoleon and Oliver Cromwell. The
collection's existence was known to almost no one, including his family, until his
death in 2005.