Monet's Water Lilies on display in Genoa, Palazzo Ducale

From June 12 to August 23, 2020, Palazzo Ducale in Genoa is hosting the exhibition 5 minutes with Monet. Face to Face with Water Lilies: on display in the halls of the Genoese institution are the Water Lilies by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926), arriving from the Musée Marmottan in Paris. It is a painting made between 1916 and 1919, representative of one of the best-known strands of Monet’s production: in fact, water lilies are one of the typical subjects of the last phase of his career. The artist, at his home in Giverny (where he had moved in 1883), initiated in 1893 a work of canalization with detour of the course of the river Epte that allowed him to create in his garden a pond, where he planted water lilies and built the very famous Japanese bridge also present in his works.

This work from 1916-1919 offers the viewer a vision of a space where one struggles to distinguish the image from the reflection and where the background is missing: as happens in several paintings in the series, the horizon is open, we do not distinguish the earth nor the sky but only the water of the pond and the leaves of the water lilies and the willow tree above. The series represents a milestone in the arc of Monet’s artistic production, since it is a synthesis of the final evolution not only of the artist’s style but of the entire Impressionist movement.

In the Palazzo Ducale itinerary, the work is introduced by a painting by Giovanni Boldini (Ferrara, 1842 - Paris, 1931), The Countess Beatrice Susanne Henriette van Bylandt, kept in the Civic Collections Frugone in Nervi: the presence of a painting by Boldini kept in the city’s collections was intended to emphasize the fact that Boldini, in 1894, solicited Monet’s acquaintance in Italy. The painting also has the function of discovering Genoa’s cultural heritage.

“With this initiative,” reads the presentation of the exhibition, “Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura, in collaboration with the City of Genoa, intends to make social distancing the occasion for an immersive and exciting aesthetic experience. This exhibition is a challenge to rediscover contemplation, contact and the expressive power of a work. In a time that forces us to build barriers to protect ourselves, Palazzo Ducale invites us to a direct encounter with a masterpiece, to listen to what art, with great narrative ability, manages to say about itself, but also about us, to make the social distancing put in place to protect us, an authentic opportunity to approach art and aesthetic experience. More than any other is Monet, whose fluid and enveloping painting, his personal yet universal storytelling, can enable us to meet this challenge.”

The exhibition is organized in collaboration between Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura, Arthemisia and the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, with the contribution of the City of Genoa. Single ticket 7 euros (reduced 3 euros for children and young people up to 14 years old). Hours: Mondays from 2 to 7 p.m., Tuesdays to Sundays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. For information and to purchase tickets, you can log on to the Palazzo Ducale website.

Pictured: Claude Monet, Water Lilies (1916-1919; oil on canvas, 150 x 197 cm; Paris, Musée Marmottan)

Monet's Water Lilies on display in Genoa, Palazzo Ducale

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