Paintings by Impressionist artist Claude Monet (1840–1926) are some of the most valuable artworks in the world; in 2019 his Meules (Haystacks) soared to $110.7 million at Sotheby’s New York, setting an auction record for an Impressionist painting that still stands today. From glowing haystacks painted at different hours of the day to his monumental Nymphéas (Water Lilies) canvases and ethereal Venetian cityscapes, Monet’s work has attracted a global following of collectors eager to own a piece of his luminous art.
But at the beginning of his career Monet, like many of the Impressionists, struggled to make ends meet. As reported by Artnet News, a letter confirming a loan to the artist from Gustave Manet, a brother of Monet’s fellow Impressionist Édouard Manet, will be among a tranche of Monet’s correspondence coming up for auction at Autograph Auctions on March 25.
The letter, dated October 18, 1875, reads, “I, the undersigned Claude Monet, acknowledge having received from Mr Gustave Manet, as a loan, the sum of one thousand francs, which shall be repayable from the proceeds of the sale of 35 of my paintings, to be conducted in the course of next February under the direction of Mr Charles Oudart, auctioneer.”
Manet further notes that he has already delivered eight paintings to Oudart, with the rest “including the one depicting a Japanese woman (life-size), currently in progress” to be delivered as they were completed. The painting mentioned would become La Japonaise (1876), a painting of Monet’s wife dressed in a Japanese kimono. It is now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and estimated to be worth $100 million.
“[W] makes this particular document signed by Claude Monet so important historically is the light it sheds on the financial struggles of the early Impressionists,” International Autograph Auctions Europe’s CEO Francisco Piñero told Artnet News. “More than just a list of figures, it captures Monet’s resolve in the face of the movement’s unstable beginnings.”
