Beschreibung:

Dans la prairie, Vétheuil, 1881 Signed 'Claude Monet' (lower right corner) Oil on canvas - Huile sur toile 42 x 52 cm - 16.5 x 20.5 in. AED 2,938,000 - 3,673,000 Provenance Madame Salerou Estate of Daniel Carasso, Giverny Anon sale: Sotheby's, New York, Impressionist and Modern Art, May 4, 2011, lot 163 Private collection, Europe Literature Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet Vie et oeuvre, biographie et Catalogue raisonné, vol. I, 1840-1881, Édition La Bibliothèque des Arts, Lausanne, 1974, No. 705, p. 416 Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet Vie et oeuvre, biographie et Catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Lausanne & Paris, 1995, No. 705, p. 263 Public notes 'In April of 1878, after living in Argenteuil for seven years, Monet moved to Vétheuil, a village on the Seine about twenty-five miles northwest of Paris. The artist, his wife, and two young sons shared a house with the family of his friend and patron Ernest Hoschedé. Hoschedé, prior to this arrangement, was an extremely successful businessman who then suffered financial setbacks that led to this shared living arrangement. The Monet family, too, had little money, and the two and a half years spent in the village were challenging. Nevertheless, Monet painted well and produced numerous works that reflected his willingness to consider alternatives to the 'high' or 'classic' Impressionist style that had driven his work for most of the 1870s. His time in Vétheuil marked a critical moment in Monet's development, and many of the pictures strike a remarkable balance between the naturalist-realist origins of Impressionism and the bold experimentation that became such an important element in the 'series' paintings which began to dominate his work in the late 1880s. The present work, painted in 1881, is centered on Marthe Hoschedé, the daughter of Alice and Ernest. After the death of Monet's wife Camille and Ernest's departure from Vétheuil (due to financial disaster), Monet and Alice became romantically involved. Eventually Claude Monet adopted Marthe and his affection for the child is evident in this stirring portrait, painted with vigorous brushwork and daringly cropped. The family ties became even more interwoven when Blanche Hoschedé, Alice's daughter, married Monet's son Jean An artist herself, her garden views were painted alongside the artist's in his later years at Giverny. The last owner of the present work was Daniel Carasso, a member of the Danone family, and the founder of Danone yogurt. A discerning collector of the Impressionists, his collection included works by Sisley, Renoir and Maillol as well as several works by Claude Monet '