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Video: Who was the woman who made Claude Monet so successful: Camille Donsier
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In 1866, a young Claude Monet draws his beloved Camille Donsier and calls the work "Camilla", or "Woman in a Green Dress." Art critics say that the work was written in a couple of days. Such a fleeting masterpiece has received many enthusiastic responses and comparisons with the works of famous masters.
About the master
Monet is one of the main adherents of impressionism. His paintings laid the foundations for modern art and further revolutionized European painting. Camille Donsier (January 15, 1847 - September 5, 1879) was the first wife of a French artist. Her role can rightly be called decisive in the success of Claude Monet. And all because she was a model of the famous painting "Woman in a Green Dress", which became the culmination of the artist's work. The jury of the Salon, where Monet's work was first demonstrated, took the work positively, and inspired by Monet immediately set to work on the next canvas.
Acquaintance
Camilla met Monet in 1865. At that time, she already had experience working as a model. Moreover, Camille was one of the most coveted models among the French Impressionists (she was also the muse of Pierre Auguste Renoir and Edouard Manet). Camilla's gaze had that helpless, desperate and disarming expression of a sad girl that attracted the attention of many spectators.
Soon, on June 28, 1870, the wedding of Camille and Claude Monet took place. Claude was 7 years older than her wife. And the witness at the ceremony was Gustave Courbet himself. Claude Monet's aunt and father initially did not approve of the relationship with Camilla. During pregnancy, Monet's first son left her in Paris and stayed at his aunt's country estate. Camille at this time remained in Paris without Monet's financial support.
Monet's father and aunt, having learned that Monet still has not abandoned Camille, refuse maintenance and demand to abandon both his beloved and his newborn son. However, contrary to the position of their relatives, Claude and Camille reunited with their son in England in October 1870. During this time, the girl's health deteriorated greatly. According to various versions, she was sick with tuberculosis, while others believe that she developed cancer. The couple's second son, Michel, was born on March 17, 1878. The birth of her second child weakened Camilla's already fragile health, and soon after that she died. Most of the money that Monet earned from the sale of his paintings was spent on medical expenses for his wife. Claude and Camille were married for 15 years, until the girl's death at the age of 32. Monet painted her posthumous portrait.
The story of their uneasy love served as the basis for Emil Zola's novel "Creativity", the image of his beloved was embodied in his numerous paintings. And we will take a closer look at the iconic portrait - "Woman in a Green Dress".
Background to the creation of the main portrait
Gustave Courbet was not only a witness to the wedding ceremony of Camille and Claude Monet. He also played a crucial role in painting the portrait with the heroine in green. Once, he entered the Paris studio of Claude Monet just at the moment when he was writing the famous "Breakfast." And he advised Monet to write something "quick and good" that will be ready by the deadline. And then Monet painted a portrait of Camilla, a dazzling woman who would later become the first Mrs. Monet. The painting depicts 19-year-old Camilla in a green and black dress, an Empire-style headdress and a fur-trimmed jacket. They say that the work was written in 4 days. Only 4 days and a lot of enthusiastic responses! The most ardent critics have called Monet's heroine "Queen of Paris" and "triumphant woman", as well as the embodiment of a fashionable avant-garde woman.
Most striking on the canvas was the combination of a traditional approach and a modern style. Monet's portrait was unusual for its time. The huge scale of the painting was usually intended for portraits of members of the royal family or prominent personalities. Choosing an indefinite dark background, Monet forces us to focus on the details of the clothes and the model itself (on the bend of the neck, on the jawline, on the gesture of her hand).
His workmanship of fabrics - lustrous silk and organic fur - mirrored the portraiture of the old masters (Jan Vermeer and Rembrandt van Rijn). The sharp contrast between the lighted and shaded areas is reminiscent of the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio. Camilla herself - modern and convincingly real - has been recognized as an icon of femininity. The image is lyrical, as if not intended for public viewing. The artist depicts Camilla almost with her back to the observer, the model herself is not looking for spectacular poses, leaving us only the opportunity to examine her luxurious dress, face and hand.
When the Salon took place, Monet and Camilla were in dire financial straits. So when The Woman in the Green Dress was sold for 800 francs, the couple was delighted. Monet achieved complete success with his "Camilla". Critics constantly praised the smooth flowing silk of the dress, like that of the old masters, and compared it with the famous fabrics of the Venetian painter Veronese. Belongs to the "Lady in the Green" Art Museum in Bremen.
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