Success in the sale-room is not always the same thing as artistic success, but some information as to the prices Monet now commands may prove of value. The New York Herald, referring to the well-known Chocquet auction, says: “It will be observed that the works by Monet are sought after and purchased at high prices, which are moreover justified by collectors as well as by dealers.” At the present moment a small example (about 26 in. by 32 in.) can be had for any price from four hundred guineas upwards.
After the Chocquet sale, dealers of all nationalities flocked down to Giverny. Two series of impressions, entitled Water Lilies and Green Bridges, were carried off, and the art public were deprived of seeing them exhibited as a whole, their creator’s original intention.
The dealers were ready to buy every canvas Monet had in his studio, even down to the numerous studies he had condemned. Needless to say that with regard to the latter they were disappointed, and the destroying fires will still claim their own. In discussing with the writer this sudden and extraordinary popularity, Monet remarked: “Yes, my friend, to-day I cannot paint enough, and make probably fifteen thousand pounds a year; twenty years ago I was starving.” Only artists can fully appreciate the philosophy of this short sentence.
The principal private collectors of Monet’s work are, in Paris, M. Durand-Ruel, Count Camondo, M. Faure, M. Dearp, M. Pellerin, M. Gallimard, and M. Bérard. In Rouen, M. Depeaux. In the United States, Messrs. C. Lambert Paterson and Potter Palmer of Chicago, Frank Thompson of Philadelphia, A. A. Pape of Cleveland, and H. O. Havemeyer of New York. All these rich collections of modern art are most generously thrown open to the inspection and enjoyment of students and lovers of art.
Claude Monet is in the possession of undiminished vigour, and the list of his works will yet receive the names of many fresh triumphs. A life of strenuous labour, unflagging perseverance in the pursuit of a high ideal from which he has never flinched, the production of a long series of magnificent canvases—these great qualities of true and inspired genius merit and receive our deepest admiration, our most sincere and genuine homage.
INTERIOR—AFTER DINNER · CLAUDE MONET
