MONET CLAUDE: (1840-1926) ´ I find London more beautiful to paint every day´´

MONET CLAUDE: (1840-1926) ´ I find London more beautiful to paint every day´´

MONET CLAUDE: (1840-1926) French Impressionist painter. A fine A.L.S., Ton vieux Monet, four pages, 8vo, Embankment Gardens, London, 11th March 1900, to Blanche Hoschede Monet, on the printed bifolium stationery of the Savoy Hotel, in French. Monet writes and affectionate letter to his stepdaughter (and daughter-in-law) and also sends news regarding the progress of his painting in London, commencing by stating ´C´est a toi, ma bonne petite Blanche que j´ecris qujourd´hui d´abord parce que je te dois une lettre et pour que ta mere ne soit pas sans nouvelles au cas ou elle resterait demain pres de vous, parce que, a tout hasard, je lui ecris aussi a Giverny´ (Translation: ´I am writing to you today, my dear little Blanche, firstly because I owe you a letter and secondly so that your mother will not be without news in case she stays near you tomorrow, because I am also writing to her in Giverny´) and continuing ´Il y a un instant j´ai commence ma cinquantieme toile, c´est te dire que je reste peu souvent sans peindre, que c´est a devenir fou tant ça change; tu peux lui dire que je me porte absolument bien, que je dors comme un sabot et que je trouve Londres chaque jour plus beau a peindre´ (Translation: ´A moment ago I started on my fiftieth canvas, which tells you that I don't often go without painting, that it's driving me mad, so much it changes; you can tell her that I am doing absolutely well, that I sleep like a clog and that I find London more beautiful to paint every day´) before tenderly concluding ´Je vous embrasse bien tendrement tous les deux comme je vous aime mes chers enfants, te priant de bien embrasser pour moi ta mere et Germaine si elles sont encore pres de vous....Je t´embrasse comme je t´aime´ (Translation: ´I kiss you both very tenderly as I love you my dear children, asking you to give my love to your mother and Germaine if they are still near you.... I kiss you as I love you´). A letter of wonderful content. VG

Blanche Hoschede Monet (1865-1947) French painter, both the stepdaughter and daughter-in-law of Claude Monet. Blanche enjoyed a fond relationship with her father-in-law who trained and encouraged her as an artist.

Monet visited London on several occasions throughout his life, the first time being in 1870 when he spent time with his friend Camille Pissarro, as well as the American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and also befriended his first and primary art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, in what would prove to be a decisive encounter for Monet´s career. In 1900 Monet stayed at the Savoy Hotel in London, from where the present letter was written. He converted his room into a temporary studio from where he overlooked the Thames River and the buildings and bridges of Westminster. Captivated by the fog, the factory smoke, and the changing light effects, Monet painted many impressionist oil paintings during this time, including the famous series consisting of views of the Palace of Westninster, home of the British Parliament.

In 1904, Monet exhibited thirty-seven views of the Thames with Durand-Ruel. In his preface to the catalogue, Octave Mirbeau described the prodigiousness of these achievements: "It's a miracle, almost a paradox, that one can, with paste on canvas, create impalpable matter, imprison sunlight, polarize it or diffuse it, infinitely reflected in what a city like London contains of thick breaths, fouled soot, and with these heavy breaths, these impenetrable soot, all these coal emanations, bring forth from this empyreumatic atmosphere such splendid enchantments of light".