Claude Monet is to be the star of London’s National Gallery next year. Monet & Architecture (9 April-29 July 2018) will provide an unusual perspective on the Impressionist’s work. This will be London’s first Monet show since 1999.
Chris Riopelle, the gallery’s 19th century curator, says that although Monet is “known for his landscapes, this will be the first time that a show has focussed on his depiction of the built environment”. The exhibition curator is Richard Thomson, from the University of Edinburgh.
The show will include a focus on three themes: canal scenes of Venice, bridges of London and the facade of Rouen Cathedral. Of the 75 paintings, nearly a third are from private collections. Important museum loans include Charing Cross Bridge (1899-1901, Baltimore Museum of Art) and View of Bordighera (1884, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles).
Other National Gallery exhibitions next year include Thomas Cole (11 June-7 October 2018, after opening at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, 30 January-13 May 2018); Ed Ruscha (11 June-7 October 2018); Mantegna and Bellini (1 October 2018-27 January 2019); and Lorenzo Lotto Portraits (5 November 2018-10 February 2019).
Meanwhile, the National Gallery’s six rooms of post-1800 paintings been refurbished in a two-year programme, which involved rotating room closures. The main reason for the work was to replace 19th century roofs, which had in recent years suffered minor leaks. The Wohl foundation was the principal funder of the £3.8m project. The gallery’s Monets are being hung this week and the rooms are due to reopen on 14 June.
Speaking at the launch of the 2018 exhibition programme, the gallery’s chairwoman, Hannah Rothschild, pledged that the museum will remain open despite terrorist attacks in Manchester and London. “Art represents food for the soul,” she said. The gallery’s flag flew at half mast today (6 June) and one minute of silence was observed at 11am to remember those who were murdered during the London Bridge terrorist attack last Saturday.
