Visiting The Monet Exhibit At The DAM

My sister Susan and I went to the Denver Art Museum (the DAM) to see Claude Monet:  The Truth of Nature this past Saturday afternoon.  This show features over 120 of Monet's works completed throughout his career.  It was well worth seeing, although the crowds were fairly large, as should be expected, since this is the largest exhibit of Monet's painting in the U.S. in the past 20 years.  I took a photograph of one of his most famous paintings, The Japanese Bridge, seen on the left, since Susan and I saw it in person when we visited Monet's house and gardens at Giverny this past May. I have to admit that I took a number of photographs myself at this exhibit, but I must say that allowing people to take photographs of the art work - not to mention "selfies," too, - really made it hard to get close to the paintings.  I hate to say it, but it would probably be best to ban photography in museums. Susan and I went to the Louvre this past May, and it seemed like virtually every tourist in the place was taking selfies in front of every damn piece of art in the joint.

When Susan and I were at Giverny, I took several photos of the Japanese Bridge, one of which can be seen on the right.  It is, of course, not very artistic, but certainly very appropriate, since the Japanese Bridge in the photograph is filled with actual Japanese people.  You can't get any more realistic than that.  Monet, by the way, actually made this garden himself, with the help of his family and 6 gardeners.  It is definitely worth seeing if you ever get to Paris.  However, bring an umbrella.

One of the things I like about these major exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum is that, in addition to the art work itself, they also feature large black and white photographs and sometimes even movies showing the artist.  When Degas - A Passion for Perfection was at the DAM, they had a large photograph of the view out of Degas' studio, showing  Paris in the 1800s.  For this exhibit, the museum displayed a photo of Monet standing by the Water Lily Pond at Giverny, as well as part of a documentary film featuring Monet that was released back in 1915.  And to make no mistake about it, I want to say again that I did not take the photograph of Monet on the left  in person, but just took a photograph of what was displayed at the museum.  I am old, but not quite that old.