“Springtime”
A painting to help bring lovely thoughts.
“Springtime” is a lovely oil on canvas painting by the French artist, Claude Monet, from 1872. In this piece, Monet depicts his first wife, Camille Doncieux, sitting on the grass and reading under the shade of a lilac tree.
Monet made this painting soon after he moved to the small town of Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine just outside of Paris. The countryside provided fresh inspiration for his work. Monet originally titled this piece as “Woman Reading” and exhibited it in 1872 at the second Impressionism art show.
Monet met Camille in 1865 when she was just 18 years old. She worked as a model and was painted by such artists as Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Camille soon became Monet’s mistress, and the two lived together periodically. Monet’s family did not approve of the relationship, so they kept it hidden.
In 1867, Camille gave birth to Monet’s first child, Jean. The following year, Monet permanently moved in with his Camilly and Jean. 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 a type of cancer, believed to have been either uterine or pelvic.
“Springtime” is in the collections of 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.
