Hoschedé Monet, Blanche (1865-1947)
Paysage, effet de neige, le Val près de Giverny (Landscape, Snow Effect; The Valley near Giverny)
1888
Oil on canvas, 64.1 × 90.8 cm
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet began painting at the age of 18, working alongside her stepfather and eventual father-in-law, Claude Monet. His only true pupil, she learned to paint by observing his techniques firsthand. In January 1888, Monet traveled to Antibes, leaving Hoschedé Monet behind to work on this painting, her first Salon submission. Letters from Monet to Alice Hoschedé, his wife and Blanche’s mother, reveal his ambitions for her: “I hope that Blanche, left to her own devices, will make a serious effort [un grand effort].” Although the painting was not accepted at the Salon that spring, it marked a new, independent direction in her art, one less beholden to Monet’s style. In her winter scene she balanced bold white impasto with areas of lively color—shadows of blue, gray, and green and warm touches of pink and yellow. (MIA)