Blanche Hoschedé-Monet
French, 1865 - 1947
Biography
Blanche Hoschedé Monet was born in Paris on November 10, 1865, the second daughter of Ernest and Alice Hoschedé. Ernest was a businessman but also a collector of Impressionist paintings, and in 1876 he asked Claude Monet to paint the round drawing room at the Chateau de Rottembourg at Montgeron. Two years later Ernest Hoschedé went bankrupt, and fled to Paris. The Hoschedé and Monet families moved to Vétheuil; and after the death of Claude Monet's wife, Camille, in 1879, the relationship between Claude Monet and Alice Hoschedé became “official.” They moved to Poissy in 1881 and finally settled in Giverny in 1883. (They were married in 1892.)
Blanche immediately became fond of Claude Monet. She was eleven when she discovered the art of painting; and she obviously spent long hours in Claude Monet’s atelier, and also in the studio of Edouard Manet. Monet rented a summer house in Pourville in the summer of 1882, and Blanche became his assistant and pupil. She would often carry his easel and canvases for him in a wheelbarrow, and would set up her own easel and paint at his side. Monet took an interest in Blanche's work, providing her with a palette and brushes. While in Italy, Monet wrote a letter to Blanche's mother, Alice, asking, “Is Blanche still painting and am I going to find her in progress?”
Blanche's work was done en plein air as she did not have an atelier. While in Antibes in January of 1888, Monet encouraged Blanche to submit a work to the Salon. The Hoschedé Monet family spent much of their time in the American artists' colony in the region, allowing Blanche to paint alongside John Leslie Breck and Theodore Earl Butler. After Monet put a stop to a romance between Breck and Blanche, Breck left Giverny in November of 1891, while Theodore Earl Butler married Blanche’s sister Suzanne, with Monet's blessing.
In 1897 Blanche married Claude Monet’s older son, Jean, and they lived in Rouen and Beaumont-le-Roger until 1913. During that time Blanche painted landscapes along the Risle River, depicting meadows, poplars and pines. Claude Monet gave Jean and Blanche Monet the "Villa des Pinsons" in Giverny in 1913; but Jean’s health deteriorated, and he passed away in 1914.
Blanche returned to live with Claude Monet, and put aside her work as a painter to become his full-time companion and housekeeper, helping him through bouts of anxiety, cataracts (Monet recovered partial vision after an operation at age 83), the war, and his completion of the enormous murals commissioned for l'Orangerie in Paris. She accompanied Monet to the south of France in October, 1921, where they stayed for a week at Maison de Georges Clemenceau in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard. Claude Monet said, "How kind she is, and how maddening I must be to everyone"; and Blanche was called "The Blue Angel" by French President Georges Clemenceau, as a testament to her devoted care of her stepfather.
After Claude Monet's death, Blanche resumed painting. Having painted in Giverny from 1883 to 1897, she returned to paint there from 1926 to 1947, and had solo shows at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris in 1927 and 1931. Blanche also returned to Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard in 1927, 1928 and 1929 to paint the Clemenceau house, garden and sea.
Adopting an almost pure form of Impressionism, Blanche Hoschedé Monet painted for her own pleasure, mostly scenes of Giverny and Rouen. At times it was difficult to distinguish her work from Monet’s, especially during her first period in Giverny. The palette, brushes, paint and canvases came from Claude Monet, and she subsequently painted Monet’s garden and its surroundings. Blanche Hoschedé Monet passed away in Giverny in 1947.
Solo Exhibitions:
1927- Gallery Bernheim-Jeune Paris: Blanche Hoschedé (November 7-18, 1927)
1931- Gallery Bernheim-Jeune Paris: Blanche Hoschedé Monet (March 9-20, 1931)
1942- Gallery Daber, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé (October 16-November 7, 1942)
1947- Galerie d’Art Drouot Provence, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé Monet (March 14- April 14, 1947)
Salon des Indépendants:
1905, 1906, 1907, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1954.
Salon de la Société des Artistes Rouennais:
1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935
Posthumous Exhibitions:
1954- Galerie Zak, Paris, November 19-December 3, 1954.
1957- AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche-Hoschedé-Monet, June 16-23, 1957.
1959- Museum in Rouen: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Henry Ottman, April 11-May 11, 1959.
1960- Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, New-York: Claude Monet and the Giverny Artists March 22-April 23, 1960.
1988- Modern Art Museum Ibaraki, Kyoto, Fukushima: Monet and his Friends, November 1988- February, 1989.
1991- AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, April 6- June 2, 1991.
2001- AG Poulain: Artists of Giverny.
2007- Columbus Museum of Art, Marmottan Museum, Paris.
2010- Solo Exhibition in Louviers, France.
Works in Museums:
Albi, Toulouse-Lautrec Museum: The Port in Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Giverny, Fondation Claude Monet: Grain stack in the Winter.
Paris, Musée Clemenceau Marmottan: Along the River, Sorel-Moussel’s House.
Rouen, Musée de Beaux-Arts: Poplars along the River, Pivoines, Claude Monet’s Garden.
Toulouse, Musée des Augustins: Claude Monet’s House and Garden.
Vannes, Musée de la Cohue: Le Bassin temps gris.
Vernon, Musée A.G. Poulain: House of Claude Monet, l’Etang de Giverny, Beach in Normandy, The Cabbage.
Books and Exhibition Catalogues:
1921 G. Geffroy: Claude Monet; his life and works.
1960 Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, New York: Claude Monet and the Giverny Artists, March 22-April 23, 1960.
1961 J-P Hoschedé: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Impressionist Painter, published by Lecerf, Rouen.
1970 G. Clemenceau: letters to a friend, 1923-1929, published by Gallimard, Paris.
1988 J-B Duroselle: Clemenceau, published by Fayard, 1988.
1991 AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, an artist of Giverny, April 6- June 2 1991.
1993 W. Gerdts: Monet's Giverny, an Impressionist Colony, Abbeville Press.
2007 C. Stuckey: In Monet’s Garden, Artists and the lure of Giverny.
Blanche Hoschedé Monet was born in Paris on November 10, 1865, the second daughter of Ernest and Alice Hoschedé. Ernest was a businessman but also a collector of Impressionist paintings, and in 1876 he asked Claude Monet to paint the round drawing room at the Chateau de Rottembourg at Montgeron. Two years later Ernest Hoschedé went bankrupt, and fled to Paris. The Hoschedé and Monet families moved to Vétheuil; and after the death of Claude Monet's wife, Camille, in 1879, the relationship between Claude Monet and Alice Hoschedé became “official.” They moved to Poissy in 1881 and finally settled in Giverny in 1883. (They were married in 1892.)
Blanche immediately became fond of Claude Monet. She was eleven when she discovered the art of painting; and she obviously spent long hours in Claude Monet’s atelier, and also in the studio of Edouard Manet. Monet rented a summer house in Pourville in the summer of 1882, and Blanche became his assistant and pupil. She would often carry his easel and canvases for him in a wheelbarrow, and would set up her own easel and paint at his side. Monet took an interest in Blanche's work, providing her with a palette and brushes. While in Italy, Monet wrote a letter to Blanche's mother, Alice, asking, “Is Blanche still painting and am I going to find her in progress?”
Blanche's work was done en plein air as she did not have an atelier. While in Antibes in January of 1888, Monet encouraged Blanche to submit a work to the Salon. The Hoschedé Monet family spent much of their time in the American artists' colony in the region, allowing Blanche to paint alongside John Leslie Breck and Theodore Earl Butler. After Monet put a stop to a romance between Breck and Blanche, Breck left Giverny in November of 1891, while Theodore Earl Butler married Blanche’s sister Suzanne, with Monet's blessing.
In 1897 Blanche married Claude Monet’s older son, Jean, and they lived in Rouen and Beaumont-le-Roger until 1913. During that time Blanche painted landscapes along the Risle River, depicting meadows, poplars and pines. Claude Monet gave Jean and Blanche Monet the "Villa des Pinsons" in Giverny in 1913; but Jean’s health deteriorated, and he passed away in 1914.
Blanche returned to live with Claude Monet, and put aside her work as a painter to become his full-time companion and housekeeper, helping him through bouts of anxiety, cataracts (Monet recovered partial vision after an operation at age 83), the war, and his completion of the enormous murals commissioned for l'Orangerie in Paris. She accompanied Monet to the south of France in October, 1921, where they stayed for a week at Maison de Georges Clemenceau in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard. Claude Monet said, "How kind she is, and how maddening I must be to everyone"; and Blanche was called "The Blue Angel" by French President Georges Clemenceau, as a testament to her devoted care of her stepfather.
After Claude Monet's death, Blanche resumed painting. Having painted in Giverny from 1883 to 1897, she returned to paint there from 1926 to 1947, and had solo shows at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris in 1927 and 1931. Blanche also returned to Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard in 1927, 1928 and 1929 to paint the Clemenceau house, garden and sea.
Adopting an almost pure form of Impressionism, Blanche Hoschedé Monet painted for her own pleasure, mostly scenes of Giverny and Rouen. At times it was difficult to distinguish her work from Monet’s, especially during her first period in Giverny. The palette, brushes, paint and canvases came from Claude Monet, and she subsequently painted Monet’s garden and its surroundings. Blanche Hoschedé Monet passed away in Giverny in 1947.
Solo Exhibitions:
1927- Gallery Bernheim-Jeune Paris: Blanche Hoschedé (November 7-18, 1927)
1931- Gallery Bernheim-Jeune Paris: Blanche Hoschedé Monet (March 9-20, 1931)
1942- Gallery Daber, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé (October 16-November 7, 1942)
1947- Galerie d’Art Drouot Provence, Paris: Blanche Hoschedé Monet (March 14- April 14, 1947)
Salon des Indépendants:
1905, 1906, 1907, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1954.
Salon de la Société des Artistes Rouennais:
1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935
Posthumous Exhibitions:
1954- Galerie Zak, Paris, November 19-December 3, 1954.
1957- AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche-Hoschedé-Monet, June 16-23, 1957.
1959- Museum in Rouen: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Henry Ottman, April 11-May 11, 1959.
1960- Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, New-York: Claude Monet and the Giverny Artists March 22-April 23, 1960.
1988- Modern Art Museum Ibaraki, Kyoto, Fukushima: Monet and his Friends, November 1988- February, 1989.
1991- AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, April 6- June 2, 1991.
2001- AG Poulain: Artists of Giverny.
2007- Columbus Museum of Art, Marmottan Museum, Paris.
2010- Solo Exhibition in Louviers, France.
Works in Museums:
Albi, Toulouse-Lautrec Museum: The Port in Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Giverny, Fondation Claude Monet: Grain stack in the Winter.
Paris, Musée Clemenceau Marmottan: Along the River, Sorel-Moussel’s House.
Rouen, Musée de Beaux-Arts: Poplars along the River, Pivoines, Claude Monet’s Garden.
Toulouse, Musée des Augustins: Claude Monet’s House and Garden.
Vannes, Musée de la Cohue: Le Bassin temps gris.
Vernon, Musée A.G. Poulain: House of Claude Monet, l’Etang de Giverny, Beach in Normandy, The Cabbage.
Books and Exhibition Catalogues:
1921 G. Geffroy: Claude Monet; his life and works.
1960 Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, New York: Claude Monet and the Giverny Artists, March 22-April 23, 1960.
1961 J-P Hoschedé: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Impressionist Painter, published by Lecerf, Rouen.
1970 G. Clemenceau: letters to a friend, 1923-1929, published by Gallimard, Paris.
1988 J-B Duroselle: Clemenceau, published by Fayard, 1988.
1991 AG Poulain, Vernon: Blanche Hoschedé Monet, an artist of Giverny, April 6- June 2 1991.
1993 W. Gerdts: Monet's Giverny, an Impressionist Colony, Abbeville Press.
2007 C. Stuckey: In Monet’s Garden, Artists and the lure of Giverny.
