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There is a story that begins in a garden,
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and in a garden it ends.
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It is the scenario of the imagination
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a man built by himself to nourish his art.
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It is the garden of the painter Claude Monet,
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the most famous artist of all France.
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The man whose formidable eye enchants the world.
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In this garden, his art has come to an end.
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Claude Monet stares at the surface of a water lily pond,
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imprisoned by its dark and marshy waters.
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The great master is weakened by age and blindness,
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paralyzed by mourning,
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deafened by the noise of a war
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that is raging just beyond the walls of his gardens.
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And yet, despite these overwhelming strains,
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he picks up his brushes for one last time.
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Alone in his garden,
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he is confronted with his last
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ambitious challenge,
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His ultimate masterpiece,
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La Grande Decoration.
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Artists are very special humans.
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They dig their own trenches with dedication,
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and fight in them, and for them, with all of their passion.
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Monet's passion...
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well, he...
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His passion was to paint, to try to paint
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water, light, and air.
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And I think he knew, somehow, that it was...
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Like an unattainable goal. But...
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But he basically dedicated his whole life to trying to do that.
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He was actually born in Paris and then they moved to Le Havre
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when he was four or five, and...
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he used to skip school sometimes,
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just to come and sit by the sea.
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As a young boy he used to go by his first name, Oscar.
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And he was a bit of a rebel, and he wanted to paint,
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and he used to...
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He started drawing caricatures
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of the people that lived in the city,
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and he had no interest
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in landscape painting.
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But he discovered landscape painting with Boudin, who...
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I mean, Monet said that he had literally opened his eyes,
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and that...
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and that he started to see nature.
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This was one of his favorite spots that Monet painted
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times and times again.
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This is where he discovered water,
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and he fell in love with it.
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Normandy is a special place because this is where the Seine,
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the river Seine dives into the sea.
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And if you follow the river Seine,
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which is quite a curvy river,
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you literally follow Monet's path
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because he chose to live near that river his whole life,
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following the water.
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He loved it so much that he told a friend
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that he wanted to be buried in a buoy
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so he could float for all eternity.
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In 1859, he was 19, Monet left Normandy
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determined to become a painter.
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Along the way, this independent-minded artist
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crossed paths with a group of young artists
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who shared a similar passion for painting outdoors,
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immersed in nature.
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This was no easy path to follow,
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searching for fertile ground to keep his imagination alive,
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Monet would have to go through very barren times.
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The pursuit of happiness and personal happiness
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is always something
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that he tries to convey in his paintings.
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And that is what leads him to making a definite choice
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to use nature and the countryside
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as the primary subjects in his paintings.
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He often moves house,
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which is partly driven
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by financial problems,
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but wherever he moves he ends up living
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alongside the banks of the Seine.
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So he lives in Argenteuil, in Vetheuil, in Poissy.
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And so in a way the Seine becomes the backbone
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of his entire life.
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Nature, light, and water were Monet's genuine passion.
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But soon they became torment.
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I think Monet fell in love with the water
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because it's like when you fall in love with someone,
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it's often someone that confronts you
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with the things that are most difficult.
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Your biggest challenges arise within this relationship.
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I think that was his relationship to the water.
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As an artist, as a photographer, or a painter,
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when you're working on a specific subject,
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whether it be the same subject all the time,
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like in Monet's body of work,
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water was the core element of his work,
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or it be a different subject you're chasing all the time,
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what you're trying to develop is your vision,
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and your way of framing it.
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To translate a reality, or visually researching,
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you do have to immerse yourself in it to become part of it.
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And I think Monet was trying to create an experience
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for the viewer.
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He creates a bubble
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in which he can, you know,
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set the elements to really convey his personal message.
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He needed to also immerse himself in that experience.
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That's why it was so important for him to become part of nature
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and to become part of what he was painting.
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Monet set up his studio on a boat,
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that way he could sort of pick the locations
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that he wanted to paint, and be closer to water.
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There's a famous Manet painting of Monet on his studio-boat
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painting away.
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He was obsessed with painting water,
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and that way he could be a lot closer to it,
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and actually paint while he himself was on water.
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He used nature as a mirror to translate what,
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you know, what was living inside of him.
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He's portraying the exterior,
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but actually, at the same time, portraying the interior.
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And he takes more steps towards really creating
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his own atmosphere, his own world,
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his own space and time,
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but also, literally, his place in the world.
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He moves to a place in France
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that then becomes the set to his paintings.
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Monet lived with Camille,
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who will later give birth to their son Jean,
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and become his wife.
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Nature was his atelier,
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but it was anything but welcoming.
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Monet had to put up with all kinds of weathers
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to be able to paint.
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When they moved to Argenteuil,
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and it was just painting, painting, painting,
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it was quite a happy times,
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but he would also be extremely affected by the weather,
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and how much it changed,
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and it would send him into fits of rage
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if he couldn't keep working outside.
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He had a very bad temper.
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He was so eager to capture the right moment,
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that at one point he flung himself and his canvases
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into the Seine.
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"I was stupid enough," he said,n"to hurl myself into the water."
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He was incredibly prolific in the early 1870s.
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It looked as if he was on the brink
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of really beginning to achieve
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everything that he'd been dreaming of
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for the last decade or more.
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But Monet was unable to sell paintings,
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and he began having financial difficulties.
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And really, those would dog him for the rest of the decade.
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And so Argenteuil,
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which began so happily for him,
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then ended with a certain amount of disappointment.
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He always felt he had financial issues,
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he was never happy about the weather,
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there was just always something that wasn't quite going right.
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You know?
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Nature was turning into a nightmare.
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The only thing that seemed to keep on growing
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was his compulsion to paint,
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which was becoming unhealthy,
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like a spreading disease.
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His wife Camille died, and he was by her deathbed,
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and the only way he could deal with grief
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was to start painting.
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And as he started to paint,
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he found that the grief was taken over
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by...
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the light that was changing on her face,
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by the colors that he was seeing,
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and his focus went into the paint.
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And...
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it scared him so much, actually,
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to feel that somehow he was detaching,
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and was starting to see her just as a subject,
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as opposed to a person,
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and his wife that he had loved and just lost,
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that he wrote to a friend and said,
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"Please, have some compassion for me,
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because I am an animal who only knows how to do one thing."
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And I think that was a huge moment in his life.
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But no matter how feverishly he painted,
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he was becoming Le Grand Refusé.
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The images just didn't convince anymore.
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Critics didn't particularly adhere to them,
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I think the wider public probably didn't get them.
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If he couldn't get in through the front door,
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he'd get in through the window,
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which he eventually did, actually.
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Monet was already 34 when,
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with other artist rejects like himself,
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he put up an exhibit in Paris
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which marked a clear departure from traditional art.
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During the group show
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of the Société Anonyme des Artistes,
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which also included Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne,
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among others,
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Monet showed for the first time
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"Impression, soleil levant",
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a painting that would soon attract the critic's interest.
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There was an art critic that came to the exhibition
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and who didn't like it,
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and so he ironically, in his review,
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paraphrased the title of Monet's painting,
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"Impression, soleil levant"
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and ended up writing in his review,
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"Je suis impressionee,"
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which means "I am impressed."
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And the irony of this is that out of this negative critique,
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the Société Anonyme Was finally able to find its name:
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"Les Impressionists".
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And thankfully,
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not all of the critics were that bad.
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It took a prominent French intellectual
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and fierce politician to offer a new interpretation
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of these innovative works:
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Georges Clemenceau.
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From that moment on,
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he became Monet's most passionate advocate.
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According to Clemenceau,
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the world needed to have a new vision,
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and he felt that the only one capable of doing that was Monet.
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If you look at Monet's life,
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he's always setting new challenges for himself,
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and actually, it's those challenges
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that seem to have kept him alive,
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and so he's always looking for new goals.
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With his new family, now that he was in his 40s,
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he needed new terrain for his regeneration
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and wilderness to shape.
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It had to be close to water.
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The first root always seeks water.
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Monet was on a train going to the countryside.
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At that point he was looking for a new place to live.
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The train suddenly stopped because there was...
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there was a wedding going on alongside the tracks,
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and there was a great violinist.
276
00:27:39,357 --> 00:27:42,721
277
00:27:42,722 --> 00:27:44,843
And Monet says he looked outside the window at this wedding party
278
00:27:44,844 --> 00:27:49,047
and decided that this is where he was going to settle,
279
00:27:49,048 --> 00:27:52,369
in Giverny.
280
00:27:52,370 --> 00:27:57,535
In reality, it was probably the lights on the water
281
00:27:57,536 --> 00:28:01,059
that attracted him.
282
00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:03,782
As usual. See?
283
00:28:03,783 --> 00:28:07,385
284
00:28:11,430 --> 00:28:14,031
So they moved here, and they were a big family,
285
00:28:15,394 --> 00:28:18,236
ten of them,
286
00:28:18,237 --> 00:28:20,758
in a village that only had about 200 people.
287
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,845
And they really stood out.
288
00:28:26,846 --> 00:28:30,407
They wore eccentric clothes.
289
00:28:30,408 --> 00:28:34,010
And then, of course, Monet was living with Alice,
290
00:28:35,094 --> 00:28:38,415
who was a widow,
291
00:28:38,416 --> 00:28:40,578
and rumors started to spread.
292
00:28:40,579 --> 00:28:44,702
It's not something that was really done at the time,
293
00:28:44,703 --> 00:28:49,787
quite a clash with the villagers.
294
00:29:04,764 --> 00:29:09,807
295
00:29:28,466 --> 00:29:33,270
296
00:29:52,932 --> 00:29:57,935
297
00:30:26,245 --> 00:30:30,088
Monet was a passionate gardener, and in fact,
298
00:30:30,089 --> 00:30:33,211
there are records that he created his own hybrids.
299
00:30:33,212 --> 00:30:36,935
He talked about painting with flowers,
300
00:30:36,936 --> 00:30:38,977
and, in a way, that's what we're doing here,
301
00:30:38,978 --> 00:30:40,738
we're building up layer and layer of flowers,
302
00:30:40,739 --> 00:30:45,062
one after the other, successive.
303
00:30:48,467 --> 00:30:52,310
Something that Monet specifically demanded
304
00:30:52,311 --> 00:30:54,392
was that the garden be immaculate all the time,
305
00:30:54,393 --> 00:30:58,076
and so he was constantly going around removing the dead flowers
306
00:30:58,077 --> 00:31:01,479
as they went.
307
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:02,921
Now we're about ten full-time gardeners,
308
00:31:02,922 --> 00:31:05,562
and we also have some volunteer help,
309
00:31:05,563 --> 00:31:09,407
because there are so many we have helpers to do that
310
00:31:09,408 --> 00:31:12,569
for us and with us.
311
00:31:12,570 --> 00:31:15,613
312
00:31:16,976 --> 00:31:20,939
When Monet arrived, the garden was an allotment,
313
00:31:20,940 --> 00:31:24,182
and an orchard,
314
00:31:24,183 --> 00:31:25,423
and Monet started to take
315
00:31:25,424 --> 00:31:27,585
that structure to pieces
316
00:31:27,586 --> 00:31:31,549
and to replace it with flowering plants,
317
00:31:33,591 --> 00:31:37,315
which was unheard of at the time.
318
00:31:37,316 --> 00:31:39,596
You know, people grew...
319
00:31:39,597 --> 00:31:40,919
People cultivated the land for food,
320
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:42,600
not for flowers.
321
00:31:42,601 --> 00:31:44,882
That created hostility and misunderstanding, really,
322
00:31:44,883 --> 00:31:50,528
of who he was and what he was doing.
323
00:31:50,529 --> 00:31:52,930
Profusion of flowers,
324
00:31:53,892 --> 00:31:55,573
that was the essence of the garden for him.
325
00:31:55,574 --> 00:31:59,215
Flowers everywhere, all the time.
326
00:31:59,939 --> 00:32:04,942
327
00:32:07,666 --> 00:32:10,708
After he spent years chasing nature,
328
00:32:12,271 --> 00:32:16,874
moving along the Seine painting in all sorts of weathers,
329
00:32:19,358 --> 00:32:23,041
he set a new challenge for himself,
330
00:32:23,042 --> 00:32:26,844
which was to bring the landscape to him,
331
00:32:27,645 --> 00:32:31,488
create in his garden the nature that he wanted to paint,
332
00:32:37,655 --> 00:32:42,258
create a vegetal architecture in Giverny.
333
00:32:47,706 --> 00:32:52,549
334
00:33:03,681 --> 00:33:08,086
Monet developed what became known as a reputation
335
00:33:08,087 --> 00:33:11,889
for savagery with various of his neighbors,
336
00:33:11,890 --> 00:33:15,013
many of the farmers in the area.
337
00:33:15,014 --> 00:33:17,375
And maybe it was inevitable that there be a kind of conflict
338
00:33:17,376 --> 00:33:22,340
between and among them.
339
00:33:22,341 --> 00:33:25,702
But the situation was also exacerbated by the fact
340
00:33:25,703 --> 00:33:28,705
that the farmers didn't necessarily
341
00:33:28,706 --> 00:33:31,029
want him walking through their fields.
342
00:33:31,030 --> 00:33:33,311
Of course, as a landscapist,
343
00:33:33,312 --> 00:33:34,752
he needed access to the grounds around,
344
00:33:34,753 --> 00:33:37,595
and they began doing things,
345
00:33:37,596 --> 00:33:39,157
such as charging him to enter their fields,
346
00:33:39,158 --> 00:33:42,360
and, in some ways, making money
347
00:33:42,361 --> 00:33:46,024
out of Monet's artistic enterprise.
348
00:33:46,025 --> 00:33:49,147
And in many cases,
349
00:33:49,148 --> 00:33:50,549
this led to a kind of misunderstanding
350
00:33:50,550 --> 00:33:52,631
between Monet and the local farmers.
351
00:33:52,632 --> 00:33:54,753
And at one point, in fact, he had to purchase
352
00:33:54,754 --> 00:33:57,234
the poplar trees that he was painting
353
00:33:57,235 --> 00:33:59,598
in order to make sure that he finished
354
00:33:59,599 --> 00:34:01,680
these beautiful grain stacks
355
00:34:01,681 --> 00:34:04,841
that he was doing in the late 1880s and 1890s.
356
00:34:06,985 --> 00:34:10,428
It's easy, and I think quite natural,
357
00:34:10,429 --> 00:34:13,030
to think that Monet was a very happy man.
358
00:34:13,031 --> 00:34:15,752
After all, who wouldn't be happy living in a place like this?
359
00:34:15,753 --> 00:34:19,917
360
00:34:20,759 --> 00:34:24,802
But, in fact, Monet was a very tortured individual.
361
00:34:24,803 --> 00:34:28,485
And again, and again in his paintings,
362
00:34:28,487 --> 00:34:31,007
he says that painting makes him suffer.
363
00:34:31,009 --> 00:34:33,971
He says, "How I suffer. The pain it causes me."
364
00:34:33,972 --> 00:34:38,936
365
00:34:43,462 --> 00:34:47,225
One of the problems being the weather.
366
00:34:47,226 --> 00:34:49,025
He painted in all weathers.
367
00:34:49,027 --> 00:34:50,786
And he would rage, a bit like King Lear,
368
00:34:50,788 --> 00:34:54,591
or King Canute, at the elements.
369
00:34:56,793 --> 00:35:00,638
There are many stories of people turning up
370
00:35:00,639 --> 00:35:02,880
here in Giverny,
371
00:35:02,881 --> 00:35:04,282
or watching him painting on the coast,
372
00:35:04,283 --> 00:35:06,444
and discovering him jumping up and down on his canvases,
373
00:35:06,445 --> 00:35:10,007
taking a pen knife to a canvas,
374
00:35:10,008 --> 00:35:11,849
or even burning them.
375
00:35:11,850 --> 00:35:13,810
You would turn up and there would be a bonfire
376
00:35:13,811 --> 00:35:17,574
of Monet's canvases here in the garden.
377
00:35:21,500 --> 00:35:25,583
378
00:35:25,584 --> 00:35:29,587
And if you think about it, what he was trying to do,
379
00:35:29,588 --> 00:35:32,230
was to capture things that are impalpable,
380
00:35:32,231 --> 00:35:36,113
like reflections, the clouds in the sky,
381
00:35:36,114 --> 00:35:39,036
reflections on the water,
382
00:35:39,037 --> 00:35:40,598
glimmers of sunlight,
383
00:35:40,599 --> 00:35:42,440
flowers as the seasons change, all of these things.
384
00:35:42,441 --> 00:35:46,204
And he was trying to freeze them in an instant
385
00:35:46,205 --> 00:35:48,486
and capture them for eternity.
386
00:35:48,487 --> 00:35:51,209
And, of course, that's impossible.
387
00:35:51,210 --> 00:35:52,970
Which, as I say, he frankly admitted.
388
00:35:52,971 --> 00:35:56,814
389
00:36:04,062 --> 00:36:08,145
Monet wanted to bring color into the garden,
390
00:36:08,146 --> 00:36:10,868
and you can see, there's color everywhere.
391
00:36:10,869 --> 00:36:14,871
So this part of the garden we call the paint boxes.
392
00:36:14,872 --> 00:36:20,077
We have a sequence of 19 beds on each side of a path...
393
00:36:20,878 --> 00:36:24,682
that follow a gradation of color.
394
00:36:24,683 --> 00:36:26,924
So at the bottom of the garden, we have the warmer colors,
395
00:36:26,925 --> 00:36:29,967
which are being enhanced by the evening sun
396
00:36:29,968 --> 00:36:33,170
which hits the bottom part of the garden.
397
00:36:33,171 --> 00:36:35,973
And we move up to the top with the cooler colors,
398
00:36:35,974 --> 00:36:39,977
which is exposed to the morning sunlight
399
00:36:39,978 --> 00:36:44,502
coming from the east,
400
00:36:44,503 --> 00:36:47,904
and that really enhances the cool colors up here. He wanted a maximum of color to be able to play around,
401
00:36:47,905 --> 00:36:51,709
and see how the light interacted with the color.
402
00:36:51,710 --> 00:36:54,792
And so he created this garden
403
00:36:54,793 --> 00:36:57,914
as a collection of light, perhaps.
404
00:36:57,915 --> 00:37:01,598
405
00:37:02,921 --> 00:37:06,923
So he's creating his own décor,
406
00:37:06,924 --> 00:37:09,487
he's inviting you to step into that landscape
407
00:37:09,488 --> 00:37:12,450
and then find yourself lost there,
408
00:37:12,451 --> 00:37:14,372
and having to find you own way again,
409
00:37:14,373 --> 00:37:16,894
and merging your own perspective with his.
410
00:37:16,895 --> 00:37:20,658
He's presenting you with a first step,
411
00:37:20,659 --> 00:37:23,180
and then you take the next.
412
00:37:23,181 --> 00:37:26,383
413
00:37:27,065 --> 00:37:32,949
Monet is decomposing this image that he's creating of reality,
414
00:37:32,950 --> 00:37:36,474
like you do in a photo,
415
00:37:36,475 --> 00:37:37,955
like you see everything in pixels,
416
00:37:37,956 --> 00:37:40,398
like you can see everything in the stroke of a brush.
417
00:37:40,399 --> 00:37:43,761
And invites the viewer to put that image back together,
418
00:37:43,762 --> 00:37:46,724
to see everything as a whole again.
419
00:37:46,725 --> 00:37:48,886
Almost as if he had magical qualities,
420
00:37:48,887 --> 00:37:51,168
as if he could see light different,
421
00:37:51,169 --> 00:37:53,090
as if he could see more colors than other people could.
422
00:37:53,091 --> 00:37:56,454
So the eye was really the essence of his being.
423
00:37:56,455 --> 00:38:00,177
Imagine being an artist and this is your tool,
424
00:38:00,178 --> 00:38:03,981
this is the essence of who you are,
425
00:38:03,982 --> 00:38:06,344
is how you see things.
426
00:38:06,345 --> 00:38:08,986
427
00:38:13,592 --> 00:38:16,874
One of the things that was said about Monet
428
00:38:16,875 --> 00:38:20,358
was that he had the greatest eye in the history of art.
429
00:38:20,359 --> 00:38:24,121
Clemenceau said that Monet had an eye
430
00:38:24,122 --> 00:38:27,284
that could penetrate the husk of appearance
431
00:38:27,285 --> 00:38:30,007
and see the reality that underlay the surface.
432
00:38:30,008 --> 00:38:33,731
And Monet's other friend, Paul Cezanne,
433
00:38:33,732 --> 00:38:38,655
said, "Monet is only an eye, but my God, what an eye!"
434
00:38:39,338 --> 00:38:43,460
435
00:38:44,703 --> 00:38:48,746
Clemenceau used to say that Monet had eyes
436
00:38:48,747 --> 00:38:51,027
that could see beyond the surface.
437
00:38:51,028 --> 00:38:53,471
A super eye.
438
00:38:53,472 --> 00:38:56,473
And as his esteem for Monet grew,
439
00:38:57,396 --> 00:39:00,958
so did their friendship.
440
00:39:00,959 --> 00:39:03,441
They both shared a passion for gardening.
441
00:39:03,442 --> 00:39:07,725
Clemenceau will soon be appointed Prime Minister,
442
00:39:07,726 --> 00:39:10,728
leading the nation during difficult times.
443
00:39:10,729 --> 00:39:14,050
And yet, his bond with Monet,
444
00:39:14,051 --> 00:39:15,973
and the time they spent together,
445
00:39:15,974 --> 00:39:17,735
was one of the things her cherished the most.
446
00:39:17,736 --> 00:39:21,618
So Giverny, for him, started to become a safe haven,
447
00:39:22,220 --> 00:39:26,662
a place where he could escape...
448
00:39:28,106 --> 00:39:30,907
from all the political brawl.
449
00:39:31,990 --> 00:39:35,952
450
00:39:40,077 --> 00:39:45,681
He lived near water his whole life, he needed it.
451
00:39:47,886 --> 00:39:51,769
And he realized that the one missing element
452
00:39:51,770 --> 00:39:54,211
in his garden was water.
453
00:39:54,212 --> 00:39:58,094
And in order to bring it to him, to his property,
454
00:39:58,095 --> 00:40:01,619
he had to deviate a river.
455
00:40:01,620 --> 00:40:04,662
And although he knew
456
00:40:04,663 --> 00:40:06,223
that that would probably create a lot of fights,
457
00:40:06,224 --> 00:40:09,386
he was entirely determined to do it.
458
00:40:09,387 --> 00:40:12,989
459
00:40:14,553 --> 00:40:17,754
When they heard that he wanted to put water lilies
460
00:40:18,557 --> 00:40:20,918
in the water,
461
00:40:20,919 --> 00:40:23,881
they were very weary thinking that maybe that would create
462
00:40:23,882 --> 00:40:27,044
some sort of pollution in the water,
463
00:40:27,045 --> 00:40:29,125
which would then impact their agricultural land.
464
00:40:29,126 --> 00:40:33,050
And so there was massive resistance against his project.
465
00:40:33,732 --> 00:40:37,774
466
00:40:39,578 --> 00:40:43,340
He said to hell with the farmers,
467
00:40:43,341 --> 00:40:46,904
to hell with the people in Giverny,
468
00:40:46,905 --> 00:40:48,786
to hell with the engineers who tell me that it can't be done.
469
00:40:48,787 --> 00:40:52,429
This is something I'm going to do.
470
00:40:52,430 --> 00:40:54,512
And in fact, he got all of the permissions that he needed
471
00:40:54,513 --> 00:40:59,436
in order to carry it through.
472
00:40:59,437 --> 00:41:02,760
If the two things that Monet liked to paint
473
00:41:02,761 --> 00:41:05,843
were water and flowers,
474
00:41:05,844 --> 00:41:08,005
he now had his profusion of flowers.
475
00:41:08,006 --> 00:41:10,968
And what he wanted to do then was to domesticate the water,
476
00:41:10,969 --> 00:41:15,012
to domesticate this element that he had been painting
477
00:41:15,013 --> 00:41:18,135
with such great success
478
00:41:18,136 --> 00:41:19,937
for the previous couple of decades.
479
00:41:19,938 --> 00:41:21,699
To bring it into his home environment
480
00:41:21,700 --> 00:41:24,301
so he could work on it multiple times
481
00:41:24,302 --> 00:41:27,264
on numerous canvases.
482
00:41:27,265 --> 00:41:29,185
And that's why, therefore,
483
00:41:29,186 --> 00:41:30,908
that he began in the 1890s working on this,
484
00:41:30,909 --> 00:41:34,952
what would become over the course of a decade or so,
485
00:41:34,953 --> 00:41:39,195
the water lily pond.
486
00:41:39,196 --> 00:41:41,438
487
00:42:02,541 --> 00:42:06,584
As soon as the first water lilies
488
00:42:06,585 --> 00:42:08,425
reached the surface of the pond,
489
00:42:08,426 --> 00:42:10,588
he started to paint them.
490
00:42:10,589 --> 00:42:13,150
In a way it was like he had found his muse,
491
00:42:13,151 --> 00:42:16,232
a flower that could harmonize water and light.
492
00:42:16,233 --> 00:42:19,877
It was the beginning of a love story
493
00:42:19,878 --> 00:42:23,400
that would turn into an obsession until his death.
494
00:42:32,811 --> 00:42:36,774
So the water lilies are planted in mud,
495
00:42:36,775 --> 00:42:39,737
which is essentially the substrate
496
00:42:39,738 --> 00:42:42,858
that is in the water garden, in the pond.
497
00:42:43,822 --> 00:42:47,304
As the initial stems emerge
498
00:42:47,305 --> 00:42:49,987
they have this journey to go up to the surface
499
00:42:49,988 --> 00:42:52,790
so that they can then unfold and finally reach the sunlight,
500
00:42:52,791 --> 00:42:56,714
which will give them the energy for their blooming
501
00:42:56,715 --> 00:43:00,717
and for the growth.
502
00:43:02,801 --> 00:43:06,804
We can imagine that that's possibly where the idea
503
00:43:06,805 --> 00:43:10,127
of his future paintings germinated at that point
504
00:43:10,128 --> 00:43:13,691
when he's seeing, for the first time,
505
00:43:13,692 --> 00:43:15,332
these incredible flowers blooming
506
00:43:15,333 --> 00:43:18,535
in the pond that he has created.
507
00:43:32,310 --> 00:43:37,314
508
00:44:27,285 --> 00:44:32,088
509
00:45:05,003 --> 00:45:08,766
To decide where to place the water lilies,
510
00:45:08,767 --> 00:45:11,407
we had to go back to the paintings
511
00:45:11,408 --> 00:45:14,011
to see where they were painted
512
00:45:14,012 --> 00:45:18,055
to sort of determine what features they were close to,
513
00:45:18,056 --> 00:45:23,018
to place them again.
514
00:45:25,984 --> 00:45:29,827
In 1909 he put on exhibition in Paris
515
00:45:29,828 --> 00:45:34,711
48 paintings that he had done of the water lily pond,
516
00:45:34,712 --> 00:45:38,395
and it created a sensation.
517
00:45:38,396 --> 00:45:40,357
He had now, on the verge of his 70s,
518
00:45:40,358 --> 00:45:42,719
had the most successful exhibition of his career,
519
00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:47,444
doing paintings of something that he himself had created,
520
00:45:47,445 --> 00:45:51,128
painting his own landscape,
521
00:45:51,129 --> 00:45:54,812
and having enormous success with it.
522
00:45:54,813 --> 00:45:57,093
523
00:46:29,486 --> 00:46:34,491
524
00:47:04,322 --> 00:47:09,405
525
00:47:38,555 --> 00:47:44,000
526
00:48:27,245 --> 00:48:30,847
At that point he became
527
00:48:30,848 --> 00:48:32,608
one of the greatest painters in France,
528
00:48:32,609 --> 00:48:36,252
and was known as "Le peintre du Bonheur".
529
00:48:37,695 --> 00:48:40,215
But then, things suddenly changed.
530
00:48:51,229 --> 00:48:55,312
It took years to meet the right conditions
531
00:48:55,313 --> 00:48:57,314
for each blossom to flourish.
532
00:48:57,315 --> 00:48:59,636
Beauty requires time and toil.
533
00:48:59,637 --> 00:49:02,638
He had time and was a hard worker.
534
00:49:02,639 --> 00:49:06,283
But now that his career had bloomed,
535
00:49:06,284 --> 00:49:08,644
everything was going to be washed away.
536
00:49:08,645 --> 00:49:12,247
The Grand river overflows its banks
537
00:49:12,770 --> 00:49:14,972
and inundates thousands of acres.
538
00:49:14,973 --> 00:49:17,094
The entire region is virtually paralyzed by the flood,
539
00:49:17,095 --> 00:49:19,655
which arrives without warning.
540
00:49:19,656 --> 00:49:21,778
Row boats are pressed into service.
541
00:49:21,779 --> 00:49:25,342
After the deluge comes the mopping up
542
00:49:25,343 --> 00:49:29,025
as the river slowly recedes.
543
00:49:51,449 --> 00:49:55,332
There was a very big storm
544
00:49:55,333 --> 00:49:59,336
in 1910 in the north or France,
545
00:49:59,337 --> 00:50:02,739
and the Seine inundated the fields.
546
00:50:05,623 --> 00:50:08,504
And in Monet's gardens the ponds overflowed.
547
00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:28,524
548
00:50:33,291 --> 00:50:37,174
The pond came out of its embankments
549
00:50:37,175 --> 00:50:40,617
and just...
550
00:50:40,618 --> 00:50:42,539
it destroyed a lot of the planting.
551
00:50:42,540 --> 00:50:46,543
And, you know, the whole thing was then covered
552
00:50:46,544 --> 00:50:50,345
with a bed of mud.
553
00:50:51,028 --> 00:50:56,032
554
00:50:57,955 --> 00:51:01,558
He loved water so much,
555
00:51:01,559 --> 00:51:03,280
and he must have felt...
556
00:51:03,281 --> 00:51:06,361
like it was sending him some kind of warning sign,
557
00:51:09,766 --> 00:51:14,770
because things started to get very difficult for Monet.
558
00:51:14,771 --> 00:51:18,574
559
00:51:26,744 --> 00:51:30,707
Monet was the most famous painter in France,
560
00:51:30,708 --> 00:51:35,992
but despite this huge reputation he was now desperately unhappy
561
00:51:35,993 --> 00:51:39,556
for a number of reasons.
562
00:51:39,557 --> 00:51:42,279
563
00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:46,483
His second wife, Alice, died of leukemia,
564
00:51:46,484 --> 00:51:50,327
which made him a widower for the second time.
565
00:51:50,328 --> 00:51:54,650
566
00:52:18,835 --> 00:52:22,719
And then, the final blow to his morale came
567
00:52:22,720 --> 00:52:25,882
with the death of Jean, his eldest son,
568
00:52:25,883 --> 00:52:30,686
who died after long-suffering.
569
00:52:40,738 --> 00:52:45,502
And then, as he was trying to deal with the grief
570
00:52:45,503 --> 00:52:49,025
by painting, as he always did,
571
00:52:49,026 --> 00:52:52,269
he started to realize that his eyes,
572
00:52:52,270 --> 00:52:55,912
those very precious tools he had,
573
00:52:55,913 --> 00:53:00,036
were starting to fail him.
574
00:53:05,563 --> 00:53:09,686
He went to the side of the pond on a beautiful July day
575
00:53:09,687 --> 00:53:13,330
and began work, but made a terrible discovery,
576
00:53:13,331 --> 00:53:17,934
and that was that his eyesight was beginning to fail him.
577
00:53:24,901 --> 00:53:28,745
And that was a terrible shock to Monet
578
00:53:28,746 --> 00:53:30,667
because of the fact that he was known for his...
579
00:53:30,668 --> 00:53:35,271
the acuity of his vision.
580
00:53:39,277 --> 00:53:42,999
He effectively retired from painting,
581
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:45,922
and this was widely reported in all of the news media.
582
00:53:45,923 --> 00:53:49,806
And I think everyone who knew Monet
583
00:53:49,807 --> 00:53:52,369
believed that the end had to be near
584
00:53:52,370 --> 00:53:55,372
if he had stopped painting.
585
00:53:55,373 --> 00:53:58,454
586
00:54:02,099 --> 00:54:07,263
587
00:54:19,477 --> 00:54:24,240
There was a very big election in France in 1914,
588
00:54:24,241 --> 00:54:28,365
and reporters were looking for Clemenceau
589
00:54:28,366 --> 00:54:32,048
to get his opinion on the situation,
590
00:54:32,049 --> 00:54:36,092
but he was nowhere to be found.
591
00:54:36,973 --> 00:54:40,297
And it seemed very curious
592
00:54:40,298 --> 00:54:41,938
that a political animal like Clemenceau
593
00:54:41,939 --> 00:54:44,741
would absent himself from the political fray,
594
00:54:44,742 --> 00:54:48,064
or the political scene, at this very critical time.
595
00:54:48,065 --> 00:54:51,987
And there was much speculation about where he had gone
596
00:54:51,988 --> 00:54:55,712
and what he was doing.
597
00:54:55,713 --> 00:54:58,234
What actually happened was that
598
00:54:59,276 --> 00:55:01,997
he was escaping the political fray,
599
00:55:01,998 --> 00:55:06,001
which he often did by going to Giverny.
600
00:55:06,002 --> 00:55:10,527
But in fact, he had a very important mission that day,
601
00:55:10,528 --> 00:55:15,131
and it was to get his friend back to his easels.
602
00:55:18,736 --> 00:55:23,819
603
00:56:06,984 --> 00:56:11,066
And so what happened on that fatal Sunday in April
604
00:56:11,067 --> 00:56:15,271
is that Clemenceau and Monet, after the lunch,
605
00:56:15,272 --> 00:56:19,074
they ended up down in the cellar,
606
00:56:19,075 --> 00:56:22,077
probably to look at some very old paintings
607
00:56:22,078 --> 00:56:24,441
that Monet had done,
608
00:56:24,442 --> 00:56:26,362
as many as a dozen, 15 years earlier.
609
00:56:26,363 --> 00:56:29,606
Works he had done before the garden,
610
00:56:29,607 --> 00:56:32,288
before the water lily pond had reached it definitive form.
611
00:56:32,289 --> 00:56:35,932
And these, of course were his firs essays,
612
00:56:35,933 --> 00:56:40,056
his first attempts at painting the water lilies.
613
00:56:40,057 --> 00:56:43,857
There was a eureka moment for Clemenceau.
614
00:56:43,861 --> 00:56:47,303
He later said he didn't think a lot about these paintings
615
00:56:47,304 --> 00:56:50,386
in terms of their artistic quality.
616
00:56:50,387 --> 00:56:52,429
He knew Monet had done better work than this,
617
00:56:52,430 --> 00:56:55,792
and could do even better work, again.
618
00:56:55,793 --> 00:56:59,115
619
00:56:59,637 --> 00:57:03,319
Clemenceau didn't think
620
00:57:03,320 --> 00:57:04,961
that they were particularly good,
621
00:57:04,962 --> 00:57:06,483
but in a way he was ready to do anything,
622
00:57:06,484 --> 00:57:09,325
even lying to his friend,
623
00:57:09,326 --> 00:57:13,009
to just get him to get back to painting,
624
00:57:13,010 --> 00:57:16,372
so he encouraged him.
625
00:57:16,373 --> 00:57:19,175
What then happened threw him off completely because
626
00:57:19,176 --> 00:57:21,978
not only did he get back to painting,
627
00:57:21,979 --> 00:57:25,582
but he also embarked on one of the greatest
628
00:57:25,583 --> 00:57:28,264
and most ambitious projects of his life.
629
00:57:28,265 --> 00:57:32,747
630
00:57:38,195 --> 00:57:43,319
631
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,843
Three weeks after Clemenceau's visit,
632
00:57:46,844 --> 00:57:50,366
there is a record of a letter Monet wrote to him saying,
633
00:57:51,849 --> 00:57:56,733
"I'm back at work again."
634
00:57:56,734 --> 00:57:59,255
635
00:58:00,337 --> 00:58:03,780
636
00:58:03,781 --> 00:58:06,422
637
00:58:13,751 --> 00:58:18,193
638
00:58:18,194 --> 00:58:20,195
It was a terrible irony that Monet got his ability,
639
00:58:20,196 --> 00:58:24,160
and his will, and his desire to paint back
640
00:58:24,161 --> 00:58:27,083
at exactly the same time
641
00:58:27,084 --> 00:58:29,085
that France descended into the First World War.
642
00:58:29,086 --> 00:58:33,808
643
00:58:34,772 --> 00:58:37,413
644
00:58:38,175 --> 00:58:40,256
645
00:58:40,257 --> 00:58:43,218
And it's at this point
646
00:58:43,219 --> 00:58:45,141
that the two friends started to go their separate ways.
647
00:58:45,142 --> 00:58:48,223
Monet started to work ceaselessly
648
00:58:48,224 --> 00:58:51,427
in his peaceful garden,
649
00:58:51,428 --> 00:58:54,710
and Clemenceau was later going to become Minister of war.
650
00:58:55,512 --> 00:58:59,555
651
00:59:00,558 --> 00:59:04,881
All French citizens were called to action.
652
00:59:04,882 --> 00:59:09,044
Trains packed with soldiers started to leave the cities.
653
00:59:11,448 --> 00:59:15,250
Giverny was no exception.
654
00:59:15,251 --> 00:59:18,374
They set up a field hospital in Giverny,
655
00:59:19,136 --> 00:59:22,257
and Monet could hear the dying and the wounded
656
00:59:22,258 --> 00:59:25,061
from his garden.
657
00:59:25,062 --> 00:59:27,943
His gardeners left, they all left to the front,
658
00:59:28,586 --> 00:59:32,067
and yet, he had no intention to leave, and he stayed.
659
00:59:33,430 --> 00:59:38,995
He wanted to stay in this garden that he had created.
660
00:59:38,996 --> 00:59:42,838
661
00:59:43,641 --> 00:59:47,083
And he once said,
662
00:59:47,084 --> 00:59:49,165
"If the barbarians want to kill me,
663
00:59:49,166 --> 00:59:51,286
they can do so in front of my canvases."
664
00:59:51,287 --> 00:59:53,650
665
00:59:53,651 --> 00:59:57,413
He painted maniacally over the next year.
666
00:59:57,414 --> 01:00:01,296
And so it's interesting that out of
667
01:00:01,297 --> 01:00:03,700
the sort of personal tragedies he'd experienced,
668
01:00:03,701 --> 01:00:07,302
out of the health defects he'd had with his eyes,
669
01:00:07,303 --> 01:00:10,627
and then, finally, out of the political difficulties
670
01:00:10,628 --> 01:00:13,990
of the war,
671
01:00:13,991 --> 01:00:15,071
he somehow brought
672
01:00:15,072 --> 01:00:16,192
all of these things together
673
01:00:16,193 --> 01:00:17,433
and overcame them
674
01:00:17,434 --> 01:00:18,675
to begin these gigantic paintings
675
01:00:18,676 --> 01:00:21,117
which were, quite literally,
676
01:00:21,118 --> 01:00:22,719
like nothing not only he had ever done before,
677
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:26,883
but like nothing anyone else had ever done before either.
678
01:00:26,884 --> 01:00:30,925
679
01:00:43,339 --> 01:00:47,342
The war should have only lasted a few months,
680
01:00:47,343 --> 01:00:49,465
but it keeps going year after year.
681
01:00:49,466 --> 01:00:52,347
The German armies have some very big victories,
682
01:00:52,348 --> 01:00:55,191
there's a lot of losses for France,
683
01:00:55,192 --> 01:00:57,113
and Georges Clemenceau,
684
01:00:57,114 --> 01:00:59,354
who was the minister of war at this stage,
685
01:00:59,355 --> 01:01:03,639
published in his newspaper...
686
01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:06,562
a text in which he said that France
687
01:01:07,364 --> 01:01:11,087
may have to sacrifice its children,
688
01:01:11,088 --> 01:01:13,409
and unfortunately it wasn't just words,
689
01:01:13,410 --> 01:01:16,332
and that's what happened.
690
01:01:16,333 --> 01:01:19,335
691
01:01:41,518 --> 01:01:46,562
692
01:01:53,409 --> 01:01:58,334
693
01:01:59,977 --> 01:02:03,339
694
01:02:05,342 --> 01:02:10,145
695
01:02:13,310 --> 01:02:18,233
696
01:02:19,877 --> 01:02:22,838
697
01:02:29,445 --> 01:02:34,450
698
01:02:42,739 --> 01:02:47,983
699
01:02:58,155 --> 01:03:03,077
700
01:03:16,013 --> 01:03:21,337
War had the flesh and bones of his son Michel.
701
01:03:21,338 --> 01:03:24,821
Going back to Giverny,
702
01:03:24,822 --> 01:03:26,983
he brought with him the smell of death and gunpowder.
703
01:03:26,984 --> 01:03:31,187
It mixed with the scent of flowers and oil colors.
704
01:03:31,188 --> 01:03:35,031
It were almost like he was bringing the war
705
01:03:35,032 --> 01:03:37,913
to Monet and to Giverny.
706
01:03:37,915 --> 01:03:41,357
707
01:03:41,358 --> 01:03:45,520
We often think of Monet's paintings of his water lily pond
708
01:03:45,521 --> 01:03:49,045
and his garden quite rightly as very peaceful scenes,
709
01:03:49,046 --> 01:03:52,808
but in fact, the war inhabits them,
710
01:03:52,809 --> 01:03:55,171
and inhabits every inch of them
711
01:03:55,172 --> 01:03:57,333
because they were painted during the war.
712
01:03:57,334 --> 01:03:59,615
But in fact, many of them do reflect very directly
713
01:03:59,616 --> 01:04:03,139
Monet's visions about the war.
714
01:04:03,140 --> 01:04:06,782
715
01:04:06,783 --> 01:04:11,307
Monet's eyesight kept deteriorating,
716
01:04:11,308 --> 01:04:15,071
but instead of putting his brushes down,
717
01:04:15,072 --> 01:04:19,153
this time he embraced the illness,
718
01:04:20,437 --> 01:04:24,640
making it part of a new artistic vision.
719
01:04:24,641 --> 01:04:28,323
720
01:04:32,569 --> 01:04:35,771
One of the things he said
721
01:04:35,772 --> 01:04:38,975
when he was asked what and how he was doing
722
01:04:38,976 --> 01:04:43,099
his painting and his approach was,
723
01:04:43,100 --> 01:04:46,582
"Imagine you're blind,
724
01:04:46,583 --> 01:04:48,384
and you're trying to see the world anew,
725
01:04:48,385 --> 01:04:50,506
juxtaposing shapes and colors in a different way."
726
01:04:50,507 --> 01:04:55,110
727
01:05:03,400 --> 01:05:06,882
And, quite ironically,
728
01:05:06,883 --> 01:05:11,046
the fact that his eyesight deteriorated,
729
01:05:11,969 --> 01:05:16,692
in a way enabled him to see the world anew,
730
01:05:16,693 --> 01:05:20,216
as he once said,
731
01:05:20,217 --> 01:05:24,517
"By seeing shapes and colors in a different way."
732
01:05:26,703 --> 01:05:30,803
Somehow what this new failing eyesight did was
733
01:05:30,827 --> 01:05:35,431
it helped him to reinvent a vision,
734
01:05:35,432 --> 01:05:38,913
and became a strength,
735
01:05:38,915 --> 01:05:40,556
because it helped him to create
736
01:05:40,557 --> 01:05:42,637
an entirely new body of work.
737
01:05:42,638 --> 01:05:46,081
738
01:06:06,863 --> 01:06:10,665
The world became a real blur.
739
01:06:10,666 --> 01:06:14,470
His garden became otherworldly.
740
01:06:14,471 --> 01:06:17,272
Flowers swayed like wraiths.
741
01:06:18,075 --> 01:06:21,676
The water looked eerie.
742
01:06:21,677 --> 01:06:24,279
And yet, he found his own way to portray the landscape
743
01:06:24,281 --> 01:06:27,443
once again.
744
01:06:27,444 --> 01:06:30,245
745
01:06:40,257 --> 01:06:44,260
The Japanese bridges he painted in those years
746
01:06:44,261 --> 01:06:46,862
are dripping blood,
747
01:06:46,863 --> 01:06:52,663
the blood of the soldiers who lost their lives in battle.
748
01:06:54,391 --> 01:06:59,275
What he did by painting a simple feature from his garden
749
01:06:59,276 --> 01:07:06,076
was try to represent the pain of an entire nation.
750
01:07:06,123 --> 01:07:10,165
751
01:07:12,889 --> 01:07:16,772
Just a few steps away from the water lilies,
752
01:07:16,773 --> 01:07:21,736
he found something else to paint,
753
01:07:21,737 --> 01:07:25,420
754
01:07:29,745 --> 01:07:34,970
which became a new symbol.
755
01:07:35,671 --> 01:07:39,351
The weeping willows became a self-portrait.
756
01:07:41,157 --> 01:07:46,038
They became the portrait of an old tortured man
757
01:07:47,603 --> 01:07:53,403
somehow bent by the burden and the pain of war.
758
01:07:56,693 --> 01:08:01,375
759
01:08:11,108 --> 01:08:16,551
760
01:08:16,553 --> 01:08:20,675
His brush mimicked the swarming of the soldiers at the front.
761
01:08:21,358 --> 01:08:25,401
It was as restless as his tormented soul,
762
01:08:25,402 --> 01:08:29,804
but it made him feel impotent nonetheless.
763
01:08:29,805 --> 01:08:33,568
So the act of painting the water lilies
764
01:08:33,569 --> 01:08:36,412
became his act of nonviolent resistance
765
01:08:36,413 --> 01:08:40,815
against the abominations of the war.
766
01:08:40,816 --> 01:08:44,460
And the more intense the war got,
767
01:08:44,461 --> 01:08:47,822
the more intensely he started to work
768
01:08:47,823 --> 01:08:50,666
on his canvases.
769
01:08:50,667 --> 01:08:53,548
And he started to call this project La Grand Decoration.
770
01:08:55,031 --> 01:08:59,194
The two old friends went down parallel paths.
771
01:08:59,196 --> 01:09:03,837
They had different goals, but the same growing commitment.
772
01:09:03,839 --> 01:09:07,523
One was heading towards peace,
773
01:09:07,524 --> 01:09:10,886
the other was inciting war.
774
01:09:13,690 --> 01:09:16,892
Despite his age,
775
01:09:16,893 --> 01:09:19,215
Clemenceau kept going to the front
776
01:09:19,216 --> 01:09:22,057
to encourage the soldiers to resist.
777
01:09:22,058 --> 01:09:25,421
And from his newspaper columns,
778
01:09:25,422 --> 01:09:27,663
he did the same with the French civilians.
779
01:09:27,663 --> 01:09:30,865
Many of them were starving.
780
01:09:30,866 --> 01:09:33,988
And he started to become known as Pere de la Victoire,
781
01:09:33,990 --> 01:09:37,553
the father of victory.
782
01:09:37,554 --> 01:09:40,555
783
01:09:48,884 --> 01:09:53,689
The violence of the world around him was too much to bear.
784
01:09:53,690 --> 01:09:57,653
His response would be an act of peace.
785
01:09:57,654 --> 01:10:01,456
A reminder of the cruelty of men.
786
01:10:02,859 --> 01:10:07,863
787
01:10:36,933 --> 01:10:41,617
Monet had painted a huge number of canvases in his garden,
788
01:10:41,618 --> 01:10:45,301
but what he intended to do with them
789
01:10:45,302 --> 01:10:49,184
didn't become clear until after the war.
790
01:10:52,188 --> 01:10:57,312
791
01:11:25,582 --> 01:11:30,584
792
01:11:31,588 --> 01:11:36,392
793
01:11:36,393 --> 01:11:40,476
The army cannot wait another 48 hours.
794
01:11:40,477 --> 01:11:43,959
The allies could grant the armistice
795
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:46,121
or fight on to unconditional surrender.
796
01:11:46,122 --> 01:11:49,445
Georges Clemenceau, the war time French leader,
797
01:11:49,446 --> 01:11:52,327
urged that the Allies should march triumphant into Berlin.
798
01:11:52,329 --> 01:11:56,010
Our own General Pershing said,
799
01:11:56,011 --> 01:11:58,012
"Complete victory can only be obtained
800
01:11:58,013 --> 01:12:00,135
by continuing the war
801
01:12:00,136 --> 01:12:01,857
until we force unconditional surrender."
802
01:12:01,858 --> 01:12:04,900
But the world would not listen.
803
01:12:04,901 --> 01:12:07,142
So golden was the thought of peace
804
01:12:07,143 --> 01:12:09,144
that the armistice was granted.
805
01:12:09,145 --> 01:12:11,186
We celebrate,
806
01:12:11,187 --> 01:12:13,509
not only because the war was over,
807
01:12:13,510 --> 01:12:15,791
but because it seemed that we had put an end
808
01:12:15,792 --> 01:12:17,993
to German militarism forever.
809
01:12:17,994 --> 01:12:21,156
810
01:12:50,306 --> 01:12:53,909
After the war,
811
01:12:53,910 --> 01:12:55,030
Monet decided to donate
812
01:12:55,031 --> 01:12:56,712
some paintings to the state,
813
01:12:56,713 --> 01:12:58,554
and he would do so.
814
01:12:58,555 --> 01:13:00,195
He'd hand them over on the day after the armistice.
815
01:13:00,196 --> 01:13:03,479
Clemenceau wanted those paintings
816
01:13:03,480 --> 01:13:06,321
to become a symbol of hope and peace,
817
01:13:06,322 --> 01:13:10,084
and he managed to secure an entire museum
818
01:13:10,085 --> 01:13:13,409
to exhibit La Grand Decoration.
819
01:13:13,410 --> 01:13:17,012
And I think in his old age,
820
01:13:17,013 --> 01:13:20,536
Monet understood that this offer
821
01:13:20,537 --> 01:13:23,018
was probably the last opportunity he had
822
01:13:23,019 --> 01:13:26,100
to be remembered.
823
01:13:26,101 --> 01:13:28,903
824
01:14:00,256 --> 01:14:04,138
La Grand Decoration was his last
825
01:14:04,139 --> 01:14:07,663
great experimental work.
826
01:14:07,664 --> 01:14:10,184
He wanted to create, which was a groundbreaking idea,
827
01:14:10,186 --> 01:14:13,147
a sort of virtual reality.
828
01:14:13,148 --> 01:14:15,591
And he designed the space in such a way
829
01:14:15,592 --> 01:14:17,952
that the paintings would surround the viewers,
830
01:14:17,954 --> 01:14:21,757
creating an immersive experience.
831
01:14:21,758 --> 01:14:26,201
They also oriented the space east to west
832
01:14:27,363 --> 01:14:32,127
so that natural light could move
833
01:14:32,128 --> 01:14:36,131
in the same way it would have moved in his garden
834
01:14:36,132 --> 01:14:38,854
hitting the water lily ponds,
835
01:14:38,855 --> 01:14:41,175
so that when you saw those paintings,
836
01:14:41,176 --> 01:14:44,739
you could just see the light shift.
837
01:14:46,022 --> 01:14:50,706
Monet at last was going to have a public space
838
01:14:50,707 --> 01:14:54,830
entirely devoted to his art.
839
01:14:54,831 --> 01:14:58,513
840
01:15:04,721 --> 01:15:08,363
So the paintings had to be perfect,
841
01:15:08,364 --> 01:15:10,365
and he kept painting, and painting, and painting.
842
01:15:10,366 --> 01:15:14,568
843
01:15:18,454 --> 01:15:22,818
He probably knew that somehow, when he finished the paintings,
844
01:15:22,818 --> 01:15:26,101
that...
845
01:15:26,102 --> 01:15:28,343
His life would cease to have any meaning,
846
01:15:28,344 --> 01:15:33,108
and so he kept pushing the deadline forward.
847
01:15:33,109 --> 01:15:37,231
Clemenceau felt betrayed by his friend,
848
01:15:37,232 --> 01:15:42,157
and he wrote to him,
849
01:15:42,158 --> 01:15:44,838
"If I love you it's because
850
01:15:45,642 --> 01:15:50,244
I gave myself to the person I believed you to be.
851
01:15:50,245 --> 01:15:53,969
But if you're no longer this person,
852
01:15:53,970 --> 01:15:56,171
then I shall continue to admire your paintings,
853
01:15:56,172 --> 01:16:00,134
but we shall no longer be friends."
854
01:16:17,714 --> 01:16:22,397
855
01:16:22,398 --> 01:16:26,880
Georges Clemenceau did go to Giverny one last time in 1926.
856
01:16:29,125 --> 01:16:32,886
His old friend Claude Monet had passed away.
857
01:16:42,297 --> 01:16:46,381
It was probably a good thing that Monet had died
858
01:16:46,382 --> 01:16:49,144
by the time the exhibition opened
859
01:16:49,145 --> 01:16:50,666
at the Orangerie in May 1927,
860
01:16:50,667 --> 01:16:54,308
because the reviews were terrible.
861
01:16:54,309 --> 01:16:57,472
One critic said that Monet had been buried twice,
862
01:16:57,473 --> 01:17:02,437
once in Giverny and once in the Orangerie.
863
01:17:03,199 --> 01:17:06,721
864
01:17:07,884 --> 01:17:11,927
I guess it must have been heartbreaking
865
01:17:11,928 --> 01:17:13,689
for Clemenceau to read those reviews
866
01:17:13,690 --> 01:17:16,330
because he had shared this ambitious dream of Monet
867
01:17:16,331 --> 01:17:19,695
and had followed him from the very beginning.
868
01:17:19,696 --> 01:17:24,638
869
01:17:25,139 --> 01:17:30,739
And he knew, well, he believed that those pieces,
870
01:17:33,028 --> 01:17:36,327
that the paintings were masterpieces.
871
01:17:38,915 --> 01:17:43,957
872
01:17:48,163 --> 01:17:52,166
And then the Orangerie became known
873
01:17:52,166 --> 01:17:55,530
as a desolate place in the heart of the city.
874
01:17:59,816 --> 01:18:04,978
875
01:18:12,709 --> 01:18:16,752
But if Monet was buried at the Orangerie,
876
01:18:16,753 --> 01:18:19,915
fortunately for him,
877
01:18:19,916 --> 01:18:23,117
that's also where he had his resurrection.
878
01:18:23,760 --> 01:18:26,321
879
01:18:35,852 --> 01:18:39,775
Pollock was a dominant force,
880
01:18:39,776 --> 01:18:41,696
even before his sudden death made him a hero.
881
01:18:41,697 --> 01:18:44,379
Exploring pure paint with an epic private vision.
882
01:18:44,380 --> 01:18:47,863
Total physical immersion in the painting process.
883
01:18:47,864 --> 01:18:51,425
Pollock embodied the vigor
884
01:18:51,427 --> 01:18:53,348
and set the pace for the New York School.
885
01:18:53,349 --> 01:18:55,951
886
01:18:55,952 --> 01:19:00,434
Just like the most resilient seed keeps traveling
887
01:19:00,434 --> 01:19:03,437
until it finds the perfect soil,
888
01:19:03,438 --> 01:19:07,938
Monet's art had to cross a much larger pond to flourish,
889
01:19:08,284 --> 01:19:12,527
landing over the Atlantic Ocean.
890
01:19:14,971 --> 01:19:18,573
In the middle of the 1950s,
891
01:19:18,574 --> 01:19:20,335
a group of young painters
892
01:19:20,336 --> 01:19:21,736
was shaking the art world
893
01:19:21,737 --> 01:19:23,457
by its roots.
894
01:19:23,458 --> 01:19:25,459
Their physical approach to the canvas,
895
01:19:25,460 --> 01:19:28,743
the obsessive repetition of a subject,
896
01:19:28,744 --> 01:19:32,027
and the large scale of their works,
897
01:19:32,028 --> 01:19:34,349
owed much to the old master of impressionism.
898
01:19:34,350 --> 01:19:37,032
And thanks to these artists,
899
01:19:37,032 --> 01:19:39,473
Giverny's gates opened
900
01:19:39,474 --> 01:19:41,156
to a new generation of young pilgrims.
901
01:19:41,157 --> 01:19:44,478
Oddly enough, the man who had spent his entire life
902
01:19:44,479 --> 01:19:47,562
chasing nature in its truest form,
903
01:19:47,563 --> 01:19:50,045
to the point of becoming its slave,
904
01:19:50,046 --> 01:19:52,567
was elected as the forerunner of the new abstract movement,
905
01:19:52,568 --> 01:19:57,692
extending his legacy into modern art.
906
01:20:06,742 --> 01:20:11,746
907
01:20:26,282 --> 01:20:31,124
908
01:20:59,554 --> 01:21:04,559
909
01:21:10,565 --> 01:21:14,568
As we step inside his last masterpiece,
910
01:21:14,568 --> 01:21:18,933
we get a glimpse of what he has achieved.
911
01:21:20,456 --> 01:21:23,939
His artistic testament.
912
01:21:23,940 --> 01:21:26,580
The culmination of his life-long quest.
913
01:21:26,581 --> 01:21:30,145
These majestic canvases enclose the entire universe
914
01:21:30,146 --> 01:21:33,348
in a small detail,
915
01:21:33,349 --> 01:21:36,031
capturing time and space within a frame.
916
01:21:36,032 --> 01:21:39,593
In just a portion of his world,
917
01:21:39,594 --> 01:21:42,437
we find the seed of a vision we are all familiar with.
918
01:21:42,438 --> 01:21:46,600
Through blindness he loosened the reins of perception,
919
01:21:46,601 --> 01:21:49,603
caressing the truth.
920
01:21:49,604 --> 01:21:51,846
His piercing gaze leaves us powerless,
921
01:21:51,847 --> 01:21:54,209
prey to the absolute.
922
01:21:54,210 --> 01:21:57,371
Carried away from reality, we dive into a reflection,
923
01:21:59,095 --> 01:22:02,737
a phantasm of water and light.
924
01:22:02,738 --> 01:22:06,340
That light, his light, is ours at last.
925
01:22:08,623 --> 01:22:12,707
926
01:22:14,790 --> 01:22:18,793
And when our eyes, filled with his art,
927
01:22:18,794 --> 01:22:21,316
finally drift away,
928
01:22:21,317 --> 01:22:23,678
time steps in,
929
01:22:23,679 --> 01:22:26,881
making everything new... again.
930
01:22:27,483 --> 01:22:30,243
931
01:23:21,097 --> 01:23:26,380
932
01:24:03,539 --> 01:24:08,342
933
01:24:13,028 --> 01:24:18,032
934
01:24:27,282 --> 01:24:32,365
935
01:26:10,425 --> 01:26:15,509
936
01:26:51,427 --> 01:26:56,509
937
01:28:22,237 --> 01:28:27,600
63932
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