Frame: Gift of Myron KuninMonet made the footbridge in his garden at Giverny the subject of two series in 1895-1900 and 1919, and he returned to its wisteria-covered frame repeatedly in the 1920s. With its raw vigor and passionate coloring, this picture underscores an observation Monet once made of his water landscapes in general - it reveals "the instability of a universe transforming itself every moment before our eyes."This reproduction frame, with its ribbon-and-stave moulding detail, is in the style of those used by Paul Durand-Ruel, the famed dealer who worked with and promoted the Impressionists.

At first glance, this painting seems to be of the contemporary Abstract Expressionist school. Only upon close scrutiny does the vine-covered Japanese bridge emerge from the pulsating canvas. Here Monet has carried Impressionism to its final limit. Unlike other members of the Impressionist group, he had consistently adhered to Impressionism from the beginning. In our painting, Monet reveals his characteristic sensitivity to the light and color of nature—nature as it was besides his lily pond overhung with weeping willows, the still water glistening as the shimmering sunlight played on its surface.Monet's failing eyesight accounts for much of the abstract quality of his painting at this time, as well as for his loss of proper color perception. On May 8, 1922, he wrote to his friend Gustave Geffroy, “Despite the poorness of my sight I wished to correct some of my decorations (Les Nymphéas). I was greatly in the wrong, for, finally, I had to admit that I was no longer capable of doing anything beautiful. I destroyed some of my panels. Today I am almost blind and must renounce all work. It is hard, but it is so: a sorry ending in spite of my good health.”¹ The world has not agreed with Monet's criticism of his work of this period. In 1923, after partial sight was restored to one eye, he again took up painting.Our painting has traditionally been dated 1912,² but a similar painting in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, dated about 1922,³ suggests a later date.⁴Endnotes

1. Marc Elder, À Giverny, chez Claude Monet, Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1924, p. 81.
2. William C. Seitz, Claude Monet, Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, 1957, ill. no. 89.
3. Alfred H. Barr, J., “Painting and Sculpture Acquisitions, July 1, 1995, Through December 31,” The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, XXIV:4, Summer, 1957, p. 38, ill. p. 7.
4. William C. Seitz, Claude Monet, New York, Abrams, 1960, p. 159.

Referenced Work of Art

1. Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926. Nymphéas: Pont Japonais c. 1922. Oil on canvas, 35” x 45 3/4”. Signed lower right with estate stamp: Claude Monet. Accession 61.36.15.CollectionsMonet family, Giverny, France; M. Knoedler and Company, New York; P. D. McMillan, Minneapolis, 17 September, 1957; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Bequest of Putnam Dana McMillan, 15 November, 1961.ExhibitedSt. Louis, City Art Museum, Claude Monet, 25 September-22 October, 1957. Subsequently exhibited at: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1 November-1 December, 1957.ReferencesWilliam C. Seitz, Claude Monet, Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, 1957, p. 38.

Paintings
The Institute's Impressionist masterpiece, The Japanese Footbridge (about 1923-25) by Claude Monet (1840-1926) has only recently returned from a year-long odyssey during which it figured as one of the highlights of major Monet exhibitions in Boston, London, and Paris. It is now on view in Gallery 323 at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The painting is a bequest of Putnam Dana McMillan. Thanks to the generosity of Life Trustee Myron Kunin, it has been reframed in a reproduction of the type of frame favored by Monet for his late pictures.Textiles
This silk panel (about 1880) by English designer Owen Jones (1806-1889) is now installed just outside of Gallery 314, a gift of the Textile Council and the Swan and Christine J. Turnblad Memorial Fund. Elaborate designs with a suggestion of an exotic, foreign flavor were popular in Europe during the mid to late nineteenth century, and were also desired by affluent purchasers in Middle Eastern and North American markets. Such designs related to Islamic traditions, yet they had a very contemporary aesthetic, which indicated the purchaser's modern, international, and cosmopolitan taste.