Monet's Muse

When browsing through Claude Monet’s collection of art, one would begin to see recurring images of a single woman. This woman, Camille Doncieux, eventually became Monet’s wife and the majority of women in his paintings were based off of her. In Married to the Muse, Kate Christensen quotes Ruth Butler saying that Doncieux “brought a whole spectrum of feelings with [her], giving [her] husbands' art emotional texture and substance, contributing elements for art as important as the light in which a scene is bathed, the space where an object sits, or movements that provide real character in a scene or to a figure." John Updike, however, believes that the majority of Monet’s inspirations came from the impressionist movement.

Christensen believes that Monet’s relationship with Doncieux increased the emotion in Monet’s work. Even though it was rumored that Monet only married Doncieux for her dowry, there is evidence that the two were in love and happy together. This home lifestyle and Monet’s emotions would definitely affect Monet’s painting style and Christensen states that “Doncieux brought a sense of style and instinctive taste for feminine elegance to the painting of Claude Monet.” Doncieux played a very large role in Monet’s life and therefore his art was highly affected and influenced by his wife.

It is hard to avoid the idea that Monet was inspired by his wife and the fact that she modeled for him on several occasions, but was she truly his muse? Updike describes how in 1918 Monet declared that one of his paintings was created solely for the reactions at the second Impressionist Exhibition. This paired with the fact that several of his paintings, such as Loloponoise, had begun to resemble the work of other impressionist artists, shows that Monet believed in impressionism and to a large extent, was inspired by it.

It is hard to make a definitive decision on which of these two influences inspired Monet the most. Odds are that a combination of both played a huge role in his painting styles. It is hard to try to guess Monet’s intentions, especially considering the fact that each piece most likely had its own inspiration. Short of asking Monet what exactly he was thinking, the best way to guess is just to guess how certain aspects of his paintings could have been affected by these different influences.