{"id":11520,"date":"2021-09-17T12:46:05","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T12:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiqets-blog-staging.local\/monet-in-paris\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T10:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:34:23","slug":"monet-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/monet-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering Monet in Paris: Where To Find Claude Monet\u2019s Most Famous Paintings","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2013<\/em>\u00a0This post was written by\u00a0Mick Murray<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Claude Monet is remembered today as one of the world\u2019s most influential and famous painters. As a leading member (often regarded as the founder) of the Impressionist movement, his art found a new way to depict reality on the canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many of his fellow Impressionists, Monet is inextricably linked to Paris, with the majority of his work being divided between three of the French capital’s major museums. In other words, there\u2019s no better place in the world to see a comprehensive collection of Monet\u2019s most famous paintings. Here\u2019s our complete guide to discovering Monet in Paris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mus\u00e9e Marmottan Monet<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re after Monet in Paris, this would be the obvious place to start. As you might have guessed, Monet\u2019s namesake museum features the world\u2019s biggest collection of his paintings in the world. You\u2019ll find highlights and hidden gems \u2013 including what is arguably the most influential and famous Monet painting ever \u2013 as well as a wide selection of works by Monet\u2019s contemporaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impression, Sunrise<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"Impression,<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is the big one. Its title alone gave the nascent art movement represented by Monet its final name: Impressionism. In April 1874, it was displayed during what would later become known as the \u201cExhibition of the Impressionists\u201d in Paris, alongside work by Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Morisot.

At the time, most critics did not yet understand the significance of the event they were attending, or how valuable and beloved the paintings (and artists) on display would eventually become. While some enjoyed the painting\u2019s idyllic and hazy representation of the port of Le Havre, others were especially hostile and regarded the painting as unfinished \u2013 art critic Louis Leroy was particularly scathing<\/a>: \u201cWallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than this seascape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nymph\u00e9as<\/strong> \/ Water Lilies<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Water<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Water<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re talking about famous paintings by Claude Monet, it\u2019s only a matter of time before you get to the topic of water lilies. Honestly, it might even be the very first thing anyone brings up. In his later years, Monet lived in a village just outside of Paris: Giverny. It was here that he spent most of his time outside in his flower garden, painting canvases that would later become some of his most renowned paintings.

During the last 30 years of his life, Monet\u2019s primary artistic focus was based around this flower garden \u2013 specifically the pond with water lilies. It\u2019s estimated that he created around 250 paintings based on this theme. While these are spread all over the world, many of them can still be found in Paris; no less than 19 of Monet\u2019s Nymph\u00e9as<\/em> can be found at Mus\u00e9e Marmottan Monet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houses of Parliament, Reflections on the Thames<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Monet often created a series of paintings based on a particular theme, with the above water lilies being the most extreme example. However, Monet also created another series of famous paintings: the Houses of Parliament<\/em>. These moody, atmospheric pieces were created between 1899 and 1901, during and after his trips to London.

Having first visited the English capital in 1870 (exiled due to the Franco-Prussian War), Monet fell in love with the city\u2019s romantic propensity towards mist and fog. For a painter who was concerned with texture, light, and hazy impressions, London provided a perfect backdrop. 

The series is spread out across the world, from Chicago to Moscow, but a trip to Paris will let you admire this particular version of Monet\u2019s unique perspective on London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rose Path, Giverny<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"Monet's<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This painting is one of the lesser-known gems you\u2019ll find at Mus\u00e9e Marmottan Monet, and was completed in Monet\u2019s final years. Created between 1920 and 1922 (he would die four years later, in 1926), Monet\u2019s eyesight had begun to abandon him. Despite suffering from cataracts that greatly impaired his vision, he still continued painting.

Depicted in a typically Impressionist manner, this is likely to have been the path of roses in Monet\u2019s garden as he himself would have seen it: an almost abstract combination of contrasting colours and blurs, all blending into one hazy but beautiful impression.

Monet took great care of his garden, and in later life had found the financial stability which had eluded him for most of his career \u2013 he was free to hire gardeners to help him maintain beautiful and elaborate arrangements such as this one; it\u2019s easy to imagine why he may have wanted to immortalise it in a painting.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V\u00e9theuil in the Fog<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Much like the Houses of Parliament<\/em>, this painting relies heavily on the use of fog to create a unique atmosphere. This particular artwork is part of Monet\u2019s paintings created in and around Paris; V\u00e9theuil is a small commune located 60 kilometres north-west of the city, on the banks of the Seine. 

The journey and valuation of this painting mirrors the career of Monet himself. It\u2019s alleged that Jean-Baptiste Faure, a wealthy opera singer and art collector, once refused to buy this painting for 50 francs when it was offered to him by Monet, ridiculing the \u2018incompleteness\u2019 of the image and likening it to a blank canvas.

Years later, Faure would visit Monet\u2019s studio and offer to buy it for 1,000 francs, not recognising it as the image he once dismissed, leading to this quote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You will have all the others if you want, but this one… even if you paid me 50,000 francs, I would not give it to you!”<\/p>La Vie de Claude Monet (Gallimard, 1929)<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Le Pont de l’Europe, gare Saint-Lazare<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One of the iconic Monet masterpieces at Mus\u00e9e Marmottan Monet, Le Pont de l’Europe, gare Saint-Lazare <\/em>is part of \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 another series of artworks based around a single cohesive theme. In this case, Monet created twelve images of the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris. This was actually the first instance of Monet focusing a number of works on a single subject, paving the way for later projects.

All of the works in the series (like most of Monet\u2019s famous paintings) were created \u2018en plein air\u2019<\/em>, which essentially means outdoors, in the very location depicted in the painting. Monet was a huge proponent of this way of working, having originally been introduced to the concept by his mentor Eug\u00e8ne Boudin. For anyone embarking on a true Monet pilgrimage in Paris, it\u2019s still possible to visit Saint-Lazare Station and imagine the young artist huddled over his easel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Train in the Snow \/ The Locomotive<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Between 1874 and 1875, Monet focused much of his creative energy on depicting wintry landscapes, full of snow and frost. Most of these scenes were painted around Argenteuil, a north-western suburb of Paris.

While this painting is unmistakably done in Monet\u2019s own style (which he had spent the last year or so receiving barbed criticism for), it also includes a focus on technological advancements, a popular theme in painting at the time which he had not previously explored.

Bridges featuring trains had been in the background of some of his past paintings, but the train is unmistakably the main subject of this particular work; its black and yellow hues stand in stark contrast to the soft white and grey of the winter landscape.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Mus\u00e9e Marmottan Monet is a must-do for anyone trying to find paintings by Monet in Paris. Slightly less well-known than iconic Parisian museums like the Louvre, this quiet and beautiful venue features 100+ Monet paintings as well as work by artists like Gauguin, Degas, and Morisot.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>