Marmottan -- major disappointment

[sunshine817]

Hi all -- just an update on the Marmottan.

Took my niece there this afternoon, as she's a hardcore Monet fan.

The Marmottan is currently hosting a special exhibition of Raoul and Jean Dufy, which now takes up the basement where the Monet collection used to reside.

There are but a dozen or so of Monet's works currently on display, and they're not even all in the same room.

Horribly disappointed, more than a little irked, and not likely to return, as "Marmottan-Monet" more than a bit of a misnomer.

[Darcy]

Thanks for the info, Sunshine. Since I've not been there, I have it on my list for Sept. Do you think that many of Monet's works are out on loan to other museums or is what you saw all they have?

[PariS]

They must be out on loan. When I went a couple of years ago the basement is where most of the Monet's were--the upstairs were special exhibits and their permanent collection of other artists. I was initially disappointed too, since what I went for wasn't obvious on the main floor.

[sunshine817]

I don't know if the Monet collection is out on loan, or just in storage-- I saw that the Dufy exhibit is on until 26 June, with no other special collections on display for a while, but have no idea if the regular collection will be back as normal.

I did the same thing, Annette -- wandered around gawping at the house, the furnishings and the gorgeous Renoirs and and Morisots, and wondering where the Monets were that everyone was talking about...then headed for the toilets, and *lo and behold* found the mother lode!

The Dufy collection is okay -- niece liked the earlier Impressionist works, but she didn't like the later ones at all.

There's also a side exhibit (in the far back, past the stairs) of medieval illuminated manuscripts -- not Impressionist by any stretch of the imagination, but mindblowing in their detail and color.

[geordy]

I have not been to the Marmottan since 1993 so don't really recall but weren't some of the Monets transferred to the Orangerie when it re-opened? I know the huge water lilies are there now..or were they cleaned and stored during the renovation?

[Jody]

That is what I thought too Geordy. The Orangerie has a special room and displays them in the round

[sunshine817]

According to Phread, the waterlilies panels have always been in the Orangerie -- apparently Monet himself helped to design the space to best show his work.

I was last at the Marmottan about a year and half ago, which was about the last time I was at the Orangerie -- so no, the bulk of the Marmottan's Monet collection remains at the Marmottan (in theory, anyway).

[Darcy]

According to the BBC:

"The water lily murals were last seen here (in the Orangerie) in public in 1999.

Since then, they have had to be kept under protective glass during the renovation work, as they could not be moved - making an already difficult task far harder."

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4989730.stm

I think we were wondering if some of the smaller Monets that are now at the Orangerie used to be at the Marmottan. I wouldn't think so because as far as I know the Marmottan is a private, not state run, museum.

Edit: Sunshine and I were posting at the same time. Looks like we agree.

[Penny]

I had not heard of Marmottan until after my first visit in 1997. I made a point of visiting on my visit in 2007.

I like their shop, items were very reasonable. I got several bookmarks and postcards of painting displayed there. My poster of The Seine at Giverny which I've framed. Which I have decided is my favorite painting.

I could sit in the room at the Orangerie for hours, such a feeling of serenity.

I had also though that the Water Lilies displayed at the Orangerie were the only ones.

When it was announced that 3 panels would be displayed at the Nelson here in KC I did some more research.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Lilies The first paragraph is misleading I do not think he painted 250 Water Lilies.

The largest ones are the panels in the Orangerie, 40 ft width. The three being exhibited at the Nelson at about 14 ft.width

I have a book of His Like and Complete Works. It was printed in 1995 so I'm sure several have been bought or moved to different museums, I do not find reference of the three museums listed below as having Water Lilies.
Monet’s Water Lilies will re-unite three panels of an exceptionally impressive water lily triptych, created by Monet between 1915 and 1926. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Saint Louis Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art each own one panel of the triptych and the exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to bring the works together. This will be the first time that this reunion has occurred for more than 30 years. With the single exception of a triptych in the Museum of Modern Art, this is the only triptych by Monet in the United States.