Arts

The MFA will display its entire Monet collection starting this spring

The museum's collection hasn't been presented in full for 25 years.

By Megan O'Brien

January 29, 2020

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The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is going big for its 150th anniversary celebration in 2020.

Beginning in April, the museum will display its entire collection of Claude Monet oil paintings — all 35 of them, which is “among the largest holdings of the artist’s work outside France,” according to the museum’s announcement. Six Monet paintings on loan from private collections will round out the exhibition, bringing the grand total of works to 41.

Titled “Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression,” the exhibition will highlight the city’s and the museum’s commitment to the artist. Between April 18 and Aug. 23, guests will be able to see works from Monet’s lifetime, ranging from early paintings completed in the 1860s to his later Impressionist Grainstacks, Rouen Cathedral, and Water Lilies series. Boston has long been a “center for the collection and appreciation of Monet’s paintings,” the museum said, and many of the artist’s works were brought to the city during his lifetime.

While the MFA dedicated a permanent gallery in 2016 to a rotating display of Monet’s works, it has been a quarter of a century since the institution’s entire collection has been displayed in full. As the museum notes, it’s a “once in a generation” opportunity to view it.

See below for the complete list of Monet paintings that you’ll be able to view:

1. “Woodgatherers at the Edge of the Forest” (about 1863)
2. “Rue de la Baole, Honfleur” (about 1864)
3. “Ships in a Harbor” (about 1873)
4. “Snow at Argenteuil” (about 1874)
5. “Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist’s Garden in Argenteuil” (1875)
6. “Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter” (1875)
7. “Meadow with Poplars” (about 1875)
8. “La Japonaise (Camille Monet in Japanese Costume)” (1876)
9. “Entrance to the Village of Vétheuil in Winter” (1879)
10. “Cliffs of the Petites Dalles” (1880)
11. “Flower Beds at Vétheuil” (1881)
12. “Seacoast at Trouville” (1881)
13. “Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengeville” (1882)
14. “Road at La Cavée, Pourville” (1882)
15. “Cap Martin, near Menton” (1884)
16. “Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny” (1885)
17. “Meadow with Haystacks near Giverny” (1885)
18. “Meadow at Giverny” (1886)
19. “Antibes, Afternoon Effect” (1888)
20. “Antibes Seen from the Plateau Notre-Dame” (1888)
21. “Cap d’Antibes, Mistral” (1888)
22. “Valley of the Creuse (Gray Day)” (1889)
23. “Valley of the Petite Creuse” (1889)
24. “Valley of the Creuse (Sunlight Effect)” (1889)
25. “Grainstack (Sunset)” (1891)
26. “Grainstack (Snow Effect)” (1891)
27. “Rouen Cathedral Façade and Tour d’Albane (Morning Effect)” (1894)
28. “Rouen Cathedral, Façade” (1894)
29. “Morning on the Seine, near Giverny” (1896)
30. “Morning on the Seine, near Giverny” (1897); arriving in June 2020.
31. “The Water Lily Pond” (1900)
32. “Charing Cross Bridge (overcast day), 1900” (1900)
33. “Water Lilies” (1905)
34. “Water Lilies” (1907)
35. “Grand Canal, Venice” (1908)
36. “The Seine at Lavacourt” (1878), Isabelle and Scott Black Collection
37. “Monte Carlo Seen from Roquebrune” (1884), Isabelle and Scott Black Collection
38. “Poplars at Giverny” (1887), Anonymous loan
39. “Ravine of the Petite Creuse” (1889), Anonymous Loan
40. “Field of Poppies near Giverny” (1890), The White Fund, American (Lawrence, MA)
41. “Poplars on the Banks of the Epte, Sunset” (1891), Private collection

Correction: Due to an editing error, this post has been updated to clarify the timing of numerous paintings’ arrivals. The title of one painting, “Valley of the Creuse (Gray Day)” (1889), has also been corrected.