Claude Monet is perhaps the world’s most beloved artist, and among all his creations the paintings of the water lilies in his garden at Giverny are his most famous. Seeing them in museums around the world, including at the Dallas Museum of Art, viewers are transported by the power of Monet’s brush into a peaceful world of harmonious nature. Yet, as Ross King reveals in his newest book, Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies, these canvases belie the intense frustration Monet experienced with painting during the early 20th century–his eyesight was failing, French newspapers were reporting he had retired, a new generation of younger artists was challenging the achievements of Impressionism, and the horrors of World War I were advancing on Giverny.
And yet, despite all this, Monet began painting again on a more ambitious scale than ever before. Linking great artistic achievement to the personal and historical dramas unfolding around it, Ross King presents the most intimate and revealing portrait of an iconic figure in world culture.
Ross King is the bestselling author of many art and history books, including Brunelleschi’s Dome, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, and Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power. He won the Governor-General’s Literary Award (Canada) for Non-Fiction for The Judgement of Paris (2006) and Leonardo and The Last Supper (2012). Born and raised in Canada, King has lived in England since moving to London for post-doctoral studies in 1992.
6:15 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Enjoy a pre-event tour of Monet’s Water Lilies and other Impressionism highlights. Tour sign-up will begin 30 minutes prior to the start time. Tour space is limited and is first-come, first-served.
Ross King will sign books shortly after his talk.