L'Italo-Americano

once existed, and they don't anymore, or it's because of rising water levels, or it was his intervention, because he thought it would make the canvas look more harmo- n i o u s , " B u r o n e x p l a i n s . Perhaps the most signifi- cant revelation of the exhi- bition is the dismantling of the spontaneity myth. "We are taught that Impression- ists worked purely en plein air, finishing their works in a single session under the sun. That's not actually how they always worked," Buron shares. In Venice, Monet was not completing master- p i e c e s ; h e w a s " p l a n n i n g only to make some begin- n i n g s . " H e i n t e n d e d t o return to the city to finish the work. The tragedy of the Venice series is that it is, in some ways, an unfinished conversation. In 1911, his wife Alice became terminal- ly ill. Following her death, a devastated Monet retreated to his studio in Giverny. It was there, four years after the trip, that he finished the canvases in 1912. T h e p h y s i c a l o r g a n i z a - tion of the exhibition at the b i t i o n . T h e y i n i t i a l l y planned to stay for only two weeks, perhaps as a way to " k e e p V e n i c e a t a n a r m ' s length" so he wouldn't dis- appoint himself. The city s e d u c e d b o t h M o n e t a n d his wife Alice, and the trip stretched into ten weeks of feverish activity, a period Buron describes as a "turn- ing point" and a "catalyst" for the final, most famous decade of his life. To understand Monet's vision, Curators Buron and Small traveled to Venice to s e e t h e c i t y t h r o u g h h i s eyes: "We followed in his footsteps, sometimes in the kind of rocking of boats as w e w e n t o n s o m e o f t h e w a t e r y t r a i l , " s h e h i g h - l i g h t s . T h i s r e s e a r c h a l l o w e d t h e c u r a t o r s t o identify specific locations where Monet anchored his gondola, but also uncovered physical mysteries in the p a i n t i n g s . I n a s e r i e s o f views of the church of Santa Maria della Salute, one can- v a s f e a t u r e s p r o m i n e n t steps in the lower-left fore- g r o u n d t h a t d o n o t e x i s t today. "Either those steps d e Y o u n g i s d e s i g n e d t o mirror a journey down the Grand Canal. Buron avoid- ed the strict "series" for - matting of Monet's earlier career because, in Venice, h e w a s n ' t t r a c k i n g t h e change of time on a single building. Instead, he was trying to replicate the same position at the same time of day across multiple canvas- es, a task of immense tech- nical difficulty. The gallery flow follows the waterway, starting with the views from the Palazzo B a r b a r o , m o v i n g t o t h e Palazzi on the canal, and culminating in the majestic views of San Giorgio Mag- g i o r e a n d t h e P a l a z z o Ducale. "I wanted it to be like a movement as you're m o v i n g d o w n t h e w a t e r - way," Buron explains. This layout allows visitors to feel t h e " g r a v i t a s " o f t h e c i t y t h a t h a d p r e v i o u s l y b e e n painted by Canaletto, Turn- e r , a n d S a r g e n t , a r t i s t s Monet would've been aware o f a s h e t o o k u p h i s o w n brush. T h e e x h i b i t i o n ' s f i n a l room serves as a powerful e p i l o g u e , s h o w i n g h o w V e n i c e t r a n s f o r m e d M o n e t ' s f i n a l y e a r s . T h e l e s s o n s h e l e a r n e d a b o u t t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n " s o l i d a n d l i q u i d , " s t o n e and water, sky and reflec- tion, led directly back to his p o n d a t G i v e r n y . T h e Venice trip was the bridge t o t h e G r a n d e s D é c o r a - tions, the massive water lily canvases that now define h i s l e g a c y . " H a d h e n o t g o n e t o V e n i c e , i t m i g h t have all looked totally dif- f e r e n t . O r m a y b e i t wouldn't have happened at a l l , " B u r o n r e f l e c t s . T h e exhibition ultimately tells a story of a man who could have retired in comfort but chose to face his fears in a foreign city. It is, as Buron concludes, "an inspirational s t o r y a b o u t c h a l l e n g i n g y o u r s e l f l a t e i n l i f e , a n d then also finding inspira- tion at moments where you m i g h t f e e l t h a t y o u h a v e lost your creative energy." revealed itself as something more interesting than had b e e n p r e v i o u s l y c o n s i d - e r e d , " C u r a t o r B u r o n explains. As the exhibition highlights, the trip almost never happened. It took years of encour- agement from friends and a period of personal frustra- tion before Monet and his wife, Alice, finally arrived in the fall of 1908. "One of the things I find s o h u m a n i z i n g a b o u t Monet is that, even after he's quite successful in his career, he has never really l o s t a s e n s e o f s e l f - c r i t i - c i s m , " B u r o n n o t e s . S h e describes his state of mind as a 19th-century version of " i m p o s t e r s y n d r o m e . " D e s p i t e b e i n g t h e m o s t f a m o u s p a i n t e r i n t h e world, Monet was terrified of the weight of Venice's artistic history. He initially claimed the city was "too beautiful to be painted" and l a m e n t e d t h a t h e s h o u l d have visited as a younger man with more "energy to p a i n t s u c h b e a u t i f u l things." This vulnerability is the heartbeat of the exhi- T his Spring, San F r a n c i s c o h a s b e e n t r a n s - f o r m e d i n t o a tale of Venice, as the Fine Arts Museums present a dual portrait of t h e w o r l d ' s m o s t i c o n i c waterway. At the Legion of Honor, the focus is on the classical heritage of the Venetian masters; across the park at the de Young, the narrative shifts to the French artist who changed the city's visual language f o r e v e r . M o n e t a n d Venice, open through July 2 0 2 6 , i s a r a r e l o o k a t a genius fighting to prove his r e l e v a n c e . T h i s a r t i c l e o p e n s o u r " T w o V e n i c e s " s e r i e s b y l o o k i n g a t t h e "watery trail" of a man who looked at the Grand Canal and saw the future of mod- ern art. The most popular image of Claude Monet is that of an elderly man with a white beard, living out a quiet existence among his Giverny gardens, painting water lilies until his sight failed. However, the spec- tacular exhibition at the de Y o u n g M u s e u m r e v e a l s a dynamic, deeply self-critical artist who, at age 68, found himself facing a life change. Curated by Lisa Small f r o m t h e E u r o p e a n A r t , B r o o k l y n M u s e u m , a n d Melissa E. Buron, Direc- tor of Collections and Chief Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the exhi- bition Monet and Venice is the result of over a decade of research that began with a s i n g l e p a i n t i n g i n t h e museum's permanent col- l e c t i o n , T h e G r a n d C a n a l . W h a t s t a r t e d a s appreciation for a beautiful canvas evolved into a more profound work. They real- i z e d t h a t , w h i l e M o n e t ' s c a r e e r w a s e x h a u s t i v e l y documented, his only trip to Venice had never been the subject of a dedicated exhibition. As they looked into the archives, "the story Installation view of "Monet and Venice" (Photography by Gary Sexton, Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco) M o n e t a n d V e n i c e , a h i s t o r i c r e u n i o n n o w o n exhibit at the de Young SERENA PERFETTO THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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