Blanche Hoschedé Monet

Blanche Hoschedé Monet (10 November 1865 – 8 December 1947) was a French painter who was both the stepdaughter and the daughter-in-law of Claude Monet.

Early life

Ernest and Alice Hoschedé Blanche Hoschedé was born in Paris, the second daughter of Ernest Hoschedé and Alice Hoschedé. Ernest was a businessman, a department store magnate in Paris. He collected impressionist paintings and was an important patron to Claude Monet early in his career. In 1876, Ernest commissioned Claude to paint decorative panels in the round drawing room in his residence, the château de Rottembourg, in Montgeron. In 1877, Ernest went bankrupt and his art collection was auctioned off.

Life with the Monets

In the autumn of 1878, Ernest Hoschedé, his wife Alice, and their six children moved into a house in Vétheuil, as did Monet, his wife Camille, and their two sons, Jean and the infant Michel. Ernest, however, still spent most of his time in Paris, and eventually went to Belgium. After the death of Camille in Vétheuil on 5 September 1879, Alice and her children continued living with Monet. In 1881, they moved to Poissy, and finally settled in their home in Giverny in 1883. Although Ernest and Alice Hoschedé never divorced, Claude Monet and Alice went on living together until after the death of Ernest in 1891. Claude Monet and Alice Hoschedé were married on 16 July 1892.

Education

The only child in the Hoschedé-Monet household to become interested in art, Blanche began painting at the age of eleven and developed a fond relationship with Claude Monet. She visited his studio as well as Édouard Manet's. By the time she was 17 years old, she was Monet's assistant and only student, often painting en plein air alongside him, painting the same subject with the same colors. In January 1888, while in Antibes, Monet encouraged Blanche to submit a work to the Salon.

Jean and Claude Monet Blanche married Claude Monet's eldest son, Jean Monet, in 1897. The couple lived in Rouen, where Jean worked as a chemist for his uncle Léon Monet, and until 1913 in Beaumont-le-Roger. Overcome with grief, Claude Monet suffered from depression and, from that point on, Blanche took over her father-in-law's household. She watched over him as his eyesight was failing him to the point he believed he was going blind. Georges Clemenceau, their common friend, called her Monet's "Blue Angel". After Monet's death on 5 December 1926, and for twenty years until her own in 1947, she took on the responsibility of the house and gardens at Giverny.

Gallery

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions 1927 - Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé (7–18 November 1927) 1931 - Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé Monet (9–20 March 1931) 1942 - Galerie Daber, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé (16 October - 7 November 1942) 1947 - Galerie d'art Drouot Provence, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé Monet (14 March - 14 April 1947)

Group exhibitions Many times between 1905 and 1954 - Salon des Indépendants Many times between 1907 and 1935 - Salon de la Société des Artistes Rouennais 1954 - Galerie Zak, Paris, 19 November - 3 December 1954. 1928 - Galerie Georges Petit, Catalogue des œuvres importantes Camille Pissarro et de tableaux, pastels, aquarelles, dessins, gouaches par Mary Cassatt, Cézanne, Édouard Dufeu, Delacroix, Guillaumin, Blanche Hoschedé, Jongkind, Le Bail, Luce, Manet, Claude Monet, Piette, Seurat, Signac, Sisley, van Rysselberghe, etc.. 1957 - Vernon, Blanche-Hoschedé-Monet 1959 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Henry Ottman 1960 - Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, New York: Claude Monet and the Giverny Artists 1988 - Modern Art Museum Ibaraki, Kyoto, Fukushima: Monet and his Friends 1991 - AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche Hoschedé Monet

Collections Blanche Hoschedé Monet's works are in the following museums: Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi: Port de Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat Musée Clemenceau, Paris: Garden in Giverny Maison de Georges Clemenceau, Belebat: The Garden of Clemenceau and The Garden and the House Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris: Along the River and House of Sorel-Moussel Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen: Poplars along the River, Pivoines, and Claude Monet’s Garden Musée des Augustins, Toulouse: The Garden and House of Claude Monet in Giverny Musée de la Cohue, Vannes: Le bassin, temps gris Musée A.G. Poulain, Vernon: House of Claude Monet, L’étang de Giverny, Beach in Normandy, and The Cabbage Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA: Landscape, Snow Effect; le Val near Giverny, 1888

Works Partial list of Blanche Hoschedé Monet's works: The Banks of the Seine, oil on canvas Claude Monet's Garden at Giverny, oil on canvas Claude Monet played by Gérard Depardieu Blanche Hoschedé Monet played by Sandrine Bonnaire Georges Clemenceau played by Michel Galabru