Claude Monet in London and Melbourne

Last year when I was in London, we had a whirl wind race through the London National Art Gallery as my uncle wanted to show us Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting. It had been a topic of conversation that he had taken his young grandson to see it, as they had been learning about the painting at school. As we were sprinting through the galleries, I spied Monet's Water garden as I thought it was called. I stopped and was in total awe and was drawn to the painting, Terry following me and my Uncle had to back track to find us. We could see 13 Monet paintings hanging in the gallery with Rembrandt paintings for company! This is the painting I could not believe I was standing in front of!

 

Claude Monet
 1840–1926

The Water-Lily Pond 1899

 So when I heard that the National Gallery of Victoria would have a Monet Exhibition on at the same time that we were to be in Melbourne for this weeks Craft & Quilt Fair, I could not resist to go and enjoy a leisurely look at his paintings. While some were not to my taste, I have fallen for all of his paintings of water lilies and learnt about his building of his water garden and  famous Japanese bridge. Pictured below is the painting I admired today.

The bridge over the waterlily pond 1900

I had no idea until today, that Monet had painted many of these paintings and many others he painted more than once, so he could capture the subject in the many different types of light. Also some were painted in different colours after he had a cataract operation and he found he could see his beloved blues and pinks again.
Also very exciting to see his paint pallet and glasses.
I also saw JMW Turner's paint pallet when we went to the Turner Exhibition in Adelaide earlier this year. Last year when on the William Morris Tour we saw the Pallet and paints of Danti Gabriel Rossetti at Kelmscott Manor. Looking at their paints and paint pallet you fan feel a real sense of these amazing and talented painters. 
A big thank you to my darling hubby for todays treat as a belated birthday treat.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx