UniGuide

The Road to Giverny in Winter, 1885
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926), French

Monet rented a house in Giverny in 1883 and bought it a few years later. He loved his estate and spent a lot of time painting it, as well as the land around it as you see here. In some ways his land was one of his works of art – he always had some project to change or improve it. He lived there for the rest of his life, and died there when he was 86 years old. Monet's house is now one of the main attractions in Giverny and was restored to be just how it was when he was alive to look after it.

Girl with doll, 1908 - 1909
Gabrielle Münter (1877 – 1962), German

Gabrielle Münter once noted, “It is all too easily forgotten that a woman can be a creative artist with a real, original talent of her own.” She studied at the city’s progressive Phalanx School, under the famed Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Other teachers scoffed at her work, but Kandinsky accepted her (actually - invited her) into his studio and gave her both speed and confidence. In 1911, Münter, Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlenksy, and Franz Marc founded the Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter. Their group championed the connection between visual art and music, spiritually-based color theory, and Bavarian folk art.

Schubert at the Piano, 1899
Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918), Austrian

Franz Schubert happened to be Klimt's own favourite composer. This canvas was commissioned by the Greek industrialist Nikolaus Dumba for the music room at his luxury apartment. Klimt painted here the female onlookers in more contemporary dress, thus ignoring any kind of historical accuracy. Although the representation of Schubert is quite accurate based on other his images. Unfortunately the original artwork was destroyed in a fire that was set by retreating N***s in 1945 at the castle Schloss Immendor, where these paintings were placed for safekeeping. It was good that copies existed before the fire. Music Magazine, December 1934 has this picture on its cover.