Monet and Venice

Claude Monet once claimed that Venice was “too beautiful to be painted,” a challenge he embraced by creating an extraordinary sequence of works depicting the Italian city. This groundbreaking exhibition reunites many of these paintings, which constitute a radiant yet underexplored chapter in Monet’s late career.

Featuring more than 100 artworks, books, and ephemera, Monet and Venice is anchored by two masterpieces: the Brooklyn Museum’s own The Doge’s Palace and The Grand Canal, Venice from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. They’re joined by nearly 20 of Monet’s Venetian paintings from collections worldwide, presented alongside selections from throughout his career. The artist’s singular vision of Venice is also set in dialogue with portrayals of the city by renowned artists such as Canaletto, Édouard Manet, John Singer Sargent, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Sonic installations by Niles Luther, the Museum’s composer in residence, and other immersive elements will further transport you to this fabled place.

Where others focused on Venice’s busy streets and canals, Monet’s interpretation is hauntingly devoid of human presence. Instead, he captures the interplay of architecture with color and light, enveloping viewers in the city’s distinctive atmosphere. Monet’s hazy, depopulated images of Venice, a city already grappling with the effects of pollution and over-tourism when he visited in 1908, can also be considered through an ecological lens—both his and our own. 

A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue accompanies Monet and Venice. The publication features essays by leading scholars of Impressionism and 19th-century art André Dombrowski, Donato Esposito, Elena Marchetti, Félicie Faizand de Maupeou, Jonathan Ribner, and Richard Thomson. These contributions explore Monet’s Venice works from sociohistorical and ecocritical perspectives, enriching our understanding of this pivotal moment in the artist’s career.

Learn more about our touring exhibitions, and bring this exhibition to your institution by emailing exhibitions@brooklynmuseum.org.