Ground-breaking Impressionist artist Claude Monet (1840-1926) visited Venice in the Autumn/Winter of 1908; relatively late in his career. Combining his immense talent for conveying bodies of water, as seen in his Water Lilies series, with bold architectural styles, the mere 37 canvases which he produced there are now considered some of his best-known and loved works. Critically acclaimed across the world, most reside in prestigious museums and private collections with one such piece ‘Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute’ selling at auction for £45 million in May 2022.
Artist John Myatt chose to interpret this crucial body of work because he regards it to be "the last of Monet's great painting campaigns" as well as the artistic difficulty of the subject matter; noting: "the autumn light reflected on and off the water that [Monet] was trying so hard to capture [...] having been there myself I know how hard this can be". He also travelled to Venice to follow in Monet's footsteps and truly capture the essence of the original paintings.
"It is one thing to study Monet’s painting at first-hand, in a gallery perhaps, and look at the way he blended colour and tone, but it’s something else to stand where he stood and see what he saw and painted [...] Venice is still the Venice that he would have seen. Exactly the same, nothing has changed. The Palazzo Dario cursed and haunted by ghosts. The views from the roof-top to San Giorgio Maggiore and Santa Maria della Salute. The Grand Canal, the Doge’s Palace, and more. It was fascinating to see Venice through my own eyes and, in a way, through his eyes too."-John Myatt.
Immensely talented and internationally acclaimed, contemporary artist John Myatt, who was involved in what Scotland Yard described as ‘the biggest art fraud of the 20th century’, has skilfully interpreted Monet’s work in these five limited edition artworks so that they evoke the same dream-like quality and iconic Venetian scenery as Monet’s originals that shook the world.
Rather than focusing solely on water as he did in his iconic Water Lilies series, Monet restricted the water of Venice to the bottom half of the canvases and focused equally on the architecture of the city. Beautifully contrasting the soft swathes of the rippling water, the bold architectural styles of Venice are accentuated; from the elegance of its Neo-classical buildings to the striking curves and arches of the Gothic Revival (as seen in the Palazzo Dario).
Featured art: 'The Palazzo Dario in the style of Claude Monet, 1908' by John Myatt, £1595. Limited edition, hand-embellished stretched canvas.
Even in 1908 Venice was a bustling tourist destination, but Monet stylistically chose to convey his scenes totally devoid of people. In contrast to many of his London and Parisian paintings where he used his impressionist style to convey bustling crowds, his Venetian paintings evoke a dream-like quality aided by the fluid brushtrokes of oil paint in soft yet vibrant tones.
Featured art: 'The Grand Canal Venice in the style of Claude Monet, 1908' by John Myatt, £1595. Limited edition, hand-embellished stretched canvas.
The beauty and desirability of Monet's few Venice paintings was perhaps most perfectly captured by the 1999 film 'The Thomas Crown Affair' starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Billionaire Thomas Crown (played by Pierce Brosnan) stole the painting 'San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk' by Monet from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its richly coloured sky, that intermingles with the warm ripples of the canal, are contrasted by the dominating silhouette of San Giorgio Maggiore's iconic church.
Featured art: 'Sunset At San Giorgio Maggiore In The Style Of Claude Monet, 1908' by John Myatt, £1595. Limited edition, hand-embellished stretched canvas.
Featured art: 'The Palazzo Dario in the style of Claude Monet, 1908' by John Myatt, £1595. Limited edition, hand-embellished stretched canvas.
Our dedicated team of art consultants is on hand to offer you tailored advice.
Join our mailing list for exclusive discounts, the latest art news, artist updates and more.
Enter a location to find your closest Castle Fine Art gallery.
Our dedicated team of art consultants is on hand to offer you tailored advice.
Speak to a consultantEnter a location to find your closest Castle Fine Art gallery.
Essential cookies enable core functionality such as page navigation. The website cannot function properly without these cookies; they can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
Performance cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage (for example, which of our pages are most frequently visited).
We use third party cookies on our site to serve you with advertisements that we believe are relevant to you and your interests. You may see these advertisements on our site and on other sites that you visit.