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David Spence packs a good deal of fascinating information into this small book on Claude Monet; it is ideal for teenagers interested in art history. The sections cover such diverse topics as Monet's life with his family and friends; his education under the seascape painter Eugene Boudin; the confusion over the names of Monet and Eduard Manet; the horrified reactions of critics to Monet's pai... More

David Spence packs a good deal of fascinating information into this small book on Claude Monet; it is ideal for teenagers interested in art history. The sections cover such diverse topics as Monet's life with his family and friends; his education under the seascape painter Eugene Boudin; the confusion over the names of Monet and Eduard Manet; the horrified reactions of critics to Monet's painting Impression: Sunrise, which gave the impressionists their name; and even the development of "portable" paint in tubes, which enabled artists to work more easily in the open air. Although smaller than the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness books, Monet and Impressionism, along with the other titles in Barron's Great Artists series, is designed with the same inclusiveness. There are five or more images on any two-page spread. One telling but small photo of a Monet painting shows beach sand stuck in the impasto where the wind blew it; others show Paris in the 1880s, or Monet in his studio with the enormous canvasses depicting water lilies. There are reproductions, albeit quite small, of Monet's lush, sun-dappled landscapes, picnics, and portraits. Spence's text is entertaining but may be too frank for some tastes: "It may have been during this time, when Monet and Hoschede's wife Alice spent many an evening together, that they became lovers..." But the portrait he gives of this widely loved painter is vivid, and remarkably complete for a book of this size--just 32 pages. --Peggy Moorman

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