Water Lilies - Monet Or Not Monet

Last weekend, when I was visiting a new exhibition at Legion of Honor in San Francisco, a special on Monet early years and his development as an artist; I was thinking of how people perceive art.

For example, when people look at my Water Lilies painting (above) many comment that it "looks just like Monet" . So, majority of people remember Claude Monet as a "water lily" artist, don't they!

But, what the exhibition showed to me and to many that Monet started painting in quite different, more realistic style before he found his, so loved by many,  "Monet" style.

I was browsing from one painting to another and I was astound how the artist was really developing and searching for his own style. If I'd show a few of the paintings that caught my attention to some people, they would probably say it is not Claude Monet.

Here are a few good examples:

  

Amazing art was presented at this exhibition. 

Some painting came from the U.S. National collections, others came from Netherlands, France, England. It was a blessing to see them all in one exhibition and being introduced to Claude Monet from a different perspective of his young years, his search of the style, his steps in the history of Art!

Cheers from www.artirina.com