“Springtime”
A painting to help bring lovely thoughts.
This lovely oil on canvas painting is by the French Impressionism artist, Claude Monet, from 1872 and is titled “Springtime”. In this piece, Monet depicts his first wife, Camille Doncieux, sitting on the grass and reading under the shade of a lilac tree.
Monet painted this piece after moving to the small town of Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine just outside of Paris where the countryside provided fresh inspiration for his work. Monet originally titled this piece as “Woman Reading” and exhibited it in 1872 at the second Impressionist art showing.
Monet had originally met Camille in 1865 when she was just 18 years old. She worked as a model and was painted by Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir in addition to Monet. Camille soon became his mistress and lived with Monet on and off again. Monet’s family did not approve of the relationship, so Monet kept it hidden.
In 1867, Camille gave birth to Monet’s first child and son, Jean. The following year, he finally moved in with his new family and in 1870, the two were formally married. Camille modeled extensively for Monet and can be seen in many of his paintings. She died in 1879 at just 32 years old from some type of cancer, either uterine or pelvic.
“Springtime” is currently on display at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.
For more on Claude Monet, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
