Just a Little Monet Exhibit in Denver, Colorado

“The richness I achieve comes from NATURE, the source of my INSPIRATION”

~Claude Monet~

When I first moved to Denver 20 (ish) years ago now – I thought it was sort of a hick town. We had chain restaurants galore and only 2 decent bars. We all dressed in fleece because the flagship REI was the best store in town. The only draw to the state back then was being close to the mountains.

My, have things changed. We now have great restaurants and breweries, and the shopping has improved – I proudly now only own 2 fleece tops. This is true progress. Sadly, traffic to the mountains has increased 10-fold – I suppose there is a pro and con for everything.

Another indicator Denver ‘has arrived” is that the Denver Art Museum landed the most comprehensive U.S. exhibition of Monet paintings in over 20 years. About as long as I’ve lived in Denver. I can promise you, it wouldn’t have been an option for the city back then.

In college during the 80’s, I am pretty sure 75% of us had a Monet print hanging somewhere. I feel like at least one of the Water Lilies series was in nearly every dorm room. Something like this bridge in Monet’s garden in Giverny below.

Monet is my kind of human – a lover of art, travel and nature – 3 of my favorite things. If he loved music, he’d be pretty close to perfection. I wonder what he was like in person? I bet he did love music.

The exhibit, Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature includes roughly 120 paintings throughout his career and focuses on his love of nature – landscapes, boats, trees, and water. For years, I didn’t know he painted anything other than water lilies.

I spent a good two hours at the museum, soaked in all of the greatness, and took a bunch of photos to share with those who weren’t able to make it. The whole experience was very moving for me.

Here are some of my favorites! In some cases it’s the entire piece, others highlight some of his classic brush strokes that I thought were extraordinary. Hope you enjoy seeing this through my eyes. Cheers!

Thank god for art 🙂

…..i choose this…

Pam