Monet / Rothko

From 18 March to 3 July 2022, the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny presents visitors with an exceptional dialogue between works by Claude Monet and Mark Rothko. Bringing together late pieces by the Master of Impressionism and the enigmatic colours of the great American artist, it provides a rare immersive experience and an invitation to contemplation.

Over the last few years, researchers on late-Impressionism have revealed often unexpected connections between Claude Monet’s works and those of later abstract artists, among them Mark Rothko. This exhibition highlights the evocative powers of these two great painters’ art. While Monet sought to render the immediacy of perceptions, Rothko attempted to adopt a more intense approach in which contemplation expanded thought. Presenting the two artists’ works so close together encourages onlookers to enjoy a new visual and sensory experience. Not just visitors’ visual senses, but also their perception of space and time, will be put to an original artistic test here!

Organised chromatically, with six works by Rothko and seven canvases by Monet displayed alongside each other, the exhibition trail allows the public to view these two masters’ paintings in a wholly new light. While Monet’s obsession was capturing a moment’s fugitive impression on canvas, Rothko produced paintings in which space appears to dissolve in the time the observer takes to contemplate the work. Inducing meditation, or even a kind of visual intoxication, this exhibition promises visitors a very special experience, offering them the opportunity to discover a different perspective on abstract and modern art.