Claude Monet in Venice

Claude Monet painted over 500 pictures in the last twenty-eight years of his life. Thirty-seven of those were Venetian views inspired by his 1908 stay. Monet became smitten with the city and regretted not having visited and painted it earlier in his career. He called Venice “too beautiful to paint,” unsure initially if he could capture the city’s light and atmosphere.

There are two exhibits in the U.S. to see Monet's Venetian paintings---scroll to the end of the post for more information.

Monet and his wife Alice arrived at the invitation of a wealthy American through their mutual friend, American artist John Singer Sargent. Claude Monet initially avoided visiting Venice because of the numerous interpretations by artists past and present. As a painter of water and nature, from the shores of Normandy to his water lilies in his garden, Venice was a perfect match for his artistic inclinations. Approaching 70 years old, Monet focused on Venice’s changing light and colors on buildings and waterscapes, much like his approach to his famous depictions of Rouen Cathedral, London, and Normandy coastal landscapes.

Claude Monet, Palazzo Ducale, detail,1908, Brooklyn Museum of Art, open access.

By the time Monet visited Venice, the city had become extremely popular with tourists of all economic backgrounds. Venice remained a much sought-after subject for many European and American artists. Paris was now the center of the art world and the epitome of modern; Venice remained the symbol of romantic decay, frozen in time. From 1860 to 1915, Venice became a magnet for artists, authors, and musicians. Approximately 90 American artists worked in Venice, producing over 3,000 works of art. Fellow Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir couldn’t resist Venice’s charms along with Sargent and J. M.W. Turner.

Monet’s Venetian paintings are contemporaneous with Picasso’s bold new cubist art and intense German Expressionism. Monet stayed true to his artistic principles throughout his career. He produced over 2,000 paintings, preferring the natural world to portraits or interior scenes. He painted his gardens and water lilies over 350 times in his last twenty-six years.

Claude Monet, Palazzo Ducale, 1908, Brooklyn Museum of Art, open access.

Palazzo Ducale; The Doge’s Palace

He chose the Doge’s Palace as a subject three times, in this rendition painted from a boat in open water. Situated at the end of the Grand Canal and facing the lagoon, which leads to the Adriatic Sea, the Doge’s Palace holds a commanding position. For those arriving in Venice from Eastern trade routes, the imposing palace would be a familiar landmark.

Begun in its present form about 1340, the palace housed the ruling Doge of the Venetian Republic, government offices, and meeting spaces. From the fourteenth through the fifteenth centuries, Venice reached its zenith as a trading partner in the East. The palace faced the open lagoon and sea, meant to symbolize the city’s fortunes, not as a defensive measure, as the city was never attacked from the open water. The palace appears exposed, weightless, and accessible. St. Mark’s Basilica, the piazza and the Doge’s Palace form the center of the city. The Doge’s Palace is the epitome of Venetian Gothic; a version of Gothic found only in Venice. Inlaid marble surfaces and delicate arches reflect Eastern influence and give the palace a lightness.

The artist rarely included people in these compositions; at most lightly sketching them. Monet’s Venice looks and feels devoid of action or bustling city life, as he intended. He omitted buildings and people even in his Normandy landscapes, preferring to highlight nature, the sea, and varying daylight. Monet chose to back away from the palace to include as much of the lagoon as possible, which takes up almost half the canvas. He placed his subject at a distance, seen as if a merchant returning from trading with Syria would have seen. Monet had no interest in painting the details of architecture. The distinctive Eastern ogee arches are barely recognizable in his painting.

In a letter, Monet confesses he wasn’t interested in painting the architectural details with clarity. It was the atmosphere he wished to capture. Intense variations and repetitions of color patterns define his Venetian canvases. The buildings, water, and environment become one. His palette leans towards blues and greens, not always duplicating the colors in the buildings or the water. Yellows also feature predominantly in the buildings reflecting on the water. Monet heightens the colors found in Venice, giving them a mystical essence.

Claude Monet, The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, 1908, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, The Lockton Collection, 70.76, open access.

The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore

Directly across the lagoon from the Doge’s Palace lies the small island of San Giorgio Maggiore with its namesake church. A monastery and church were dedicated to St. George on the island in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Andrea Palladio designed the church in the mid-1500s in a very modern classical style, which is unlike other Gothic buildings on the islands. Paintings by Tintoretto decorate the interior.

Monet painted the sixteenth century church multiple times. He chose a distant vantage point with the church, dome, and bell tower emerging and blending in with the sky and water. Blue, gray, and pink dominate with a touch of ochre. The water traffic between San Giorgio and the Doge’s Palace (about a five-minute boat ride) is usually crowded and congested with boats and gondolas. Monet sketches two boats, one a gondola and one an indistinct vessel, but eliminates other boats.

He painted many of the same iconic Venetian attractions as other late nineteenth and early twentieth century visiting artists. In Monet’s versions, he gives the sea the same importance as the buildings.

Claude Monet, Ca’ Dario, 1908, The Art Institute of Chicago, open access.

Ca’ Dario, photo Gerriann Brower.

Ca’ Dario

Monet painted almost every day in Venice, and when he did, he painted nearly all day. He ran out of supplies and had to purchase more in Venice. This rendition of the Ca’ Dario was painted on canvas purchased in Venice, evidenced by a ragged piece of the supplier’s label still attached to the back of the canvas. The Ca’ Dario marble façade and the shimmering water are rendered in loose brushstrokes. He truncated the upper portion of the palace to give more emphasis to the canal. Monet often painted from a low viewpoint, but usually included most of the building.

Ca’ (short for casa) or Palazzo Dario rests on the Grand Canal. Constructed in the late 1400s, it is an example of Venetian Gothic style with later Renaissance additions. The round marble-encrusted windows on the right offset the round arches on the left. This asymmetry is commonly found in Venetian architecture and painting compositions. Like many palaces on the Grand Canal, this palace once belonged to rich families who built ornate houses as a display of wealth and status. Ca’ Dario is named after Giovanni Dario, a Venetian diplomat and envoy to Turkey. His palace has hints of Eastern decorative features.

Monet finished his paintings in his studio, most likely because of his brief ten-week stay. Venice in October and November can be chilly, foggy, and damp. As a result, he could only sketch in his compositions, completing them from memory in his Giverny studio. Technical analysis of Ca’ Dario uncovered brushstrokes that consisted of wet-on-wet layers, meaning he did not allow the oil paint to dry before adding additional colors or brushstrokes. Monet used eleven pigments for this painting. Sometimes he scraped or wiped into the paint layers to expose underlying colors. He painted directly onto the canvas with no underdrawings.

Alice would often accompany him on his painting excursions. Gondolas frequently became floating studios, where he would sketch and paint for long periods. He carefully selected his subjects and viewpoints-sometimes he painted from a balcony or in St. Mark’s Square. He did not intend to create cliché souvenir grand vistas, but rather to explore how light creates patterns on surfaces. They remained personal souvenirs of his time with Alice.

Although he wished to return to Venice, his 1908 trip was his last outside of France. He suffered a series of misfortunes and hardships. Giverny was flooded when the Seine and Epte rivers overflowed. His beloved Alice died three years later. After thirty years together, he initially lacked interest in painting and struggled to return to work. His son suffered behavioral changes and mental illness because of syphilis. At one point he wished to give up painting forever. Monet finally resumed painting his beloved Giverny garden and the Venetian scenes. Twenty-nine of his Venetian paintings appeared in a 1912 Paris exhibit to acclaim.

As one of the fathers of French Impressionism, Monet remained true to his personal expression of nature, enduring up and down receptions of his work, financial hardship, and ultimately fame. It is difficult to comprehend that his earlier works were harshly criticized and rejected. Much had changed since Monet, Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and others exhibited their works as independent artists in 1874. The artists rejected the conservative system that the Salon ran, which used a jury system to determine which artists and works to exhibit for sale. When he died in 1926, France considered him a great visionary and citizen. Monet’s Venetian painting of the Grand Canal and Santa Maria della Salute sold for $56.6 million in 2022.

There are two wonderful opportunities to see Monet’s Venetian paintings in person. The “Monet and Venice” exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art runs until February 2026. It has been over twenty-five years since Monet has been the subject of a large museum exhibit in New York. The exhibit moves to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco March-July 2026.

Sources

Howard, Deborah. The Architectural History of Venice. Yale University Press. 2002.

Romano, Denis. Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City. Oxford University Press, 2024.

Shaw, Jill. “Cat. 45. Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908: Curatorial Entry,” in Monet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw. Art Institute of Chicago, 2014. 

Small, Lisa, et al. Monet and Venice. Rizzoli Electa, 2025.

Tucker, Paul Hayes. Claude Monet: Life and Art. Yale University Press, 1995.