Monet and Venice at the de Young Museum

My late friend Jerry Morgan once described Venice, Italy as "the greatest tourist trap in the world, perfected over centuries." (Pictured is Canaletto's 1745 painting, The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day.)

Evidently, the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet was not interested in visiting such a well-trod location, but was finally cajoled into a visit by his second wife Alice Hoschedé in 1908, when he was 68 years old.

In an exhibit organized by the Brooklyn Museum and the de Young, nineteen paintings by Monet join a collection of Venetian views by other artists, including the 1881 Venice, the Doge's Palace by Renoir.

The impetus for the Autumn 1908 visit was an invitation by British socialite Mary Hunter to join her at her seasonal rental, the Palazzo Barbaro, which seemingly hosted every artist of the late 19th century, from Henry James to John Singer Sargent, who painted the 1899 An Interior in Venice there.

Alice and Claude were only scheduled to stay for two weeks, but were so enchanted by Venice that they moved into a hotel and stayed for another three months. Setting out on a gondola each day, Monet would paint the same locations repeatedly in varying light. (Pictured is The Grand Canal, Venice.)

Of the 37 paintings from this series, 19 have been reunited for this traveling exhibit.

After the Venetian sojourn, Monet exhibited these paintings for the public two years later, then retired to his home in Giverny where he was soon a grieving widower after Alice died in 1911.

Monet spent the next two decades working on his series of Water Lilies at home in Giverny, including this 1914-17 canvas owned by the SF Fine Arts Museums. The add-on price for the exhibit is exorbitant, but if you buy a reasonably priced annual membership to the museum, it's a bargain and you can go as often as you desire.