第1778期:New Public Show Explores Influence of Leon Monet

Behind some great men, there is a big brother. Leon Monet, Claude Monet’s older brother, is central to a new public art show, or exhibition, in Paris. The exhibition explores the part Leon Monet played in the famous impressionist painter’s life and art. Leon was a color chemist who was four years older than Claude. Historians now understand that Leon helped Claude succeed. He helped in the development of the famous color palette that Claude used to create artworks like the “Water Lilies” series.

一些伟人的背后，都有一个大哥。克劳德·莫奈 (Claude Monet) 的哥哥莱昂·莫奈 (Leon Monet) 是巴黎一场新的公共艺术展或展览的中心人物。展览探讨了莱昂·莫奈在这位著名印象派画家的生活和艺术中所扮演的角色。莱昂是一位比克劳德大四岁的色彩化学家。历史学家现在明白，里昂帮助克劳德成功了。他帮助开发了克劳德用来创作“睡莲”系列等艺术作品的著名调色板。

Geraldine Lefebvre is in charge of the exhibition at the Musee du Luxembourg. “It’s never been known before, but without Leon there would not have been a Monet — the artist the world knows today,” Lefebvre said. She explained, “His rich big brother supported him in the first period of his life when he had no money or clients and was starving.” Lefebvre said that the colors Claude was famous for “came from the synthetic textile dye colors Leon created” in the town of Rouen. Rouen was the subject of some of Claude’s best-known paintings.

Geraldine Lefebvre 负责卢森堡博物馆的展览。 “以前从未为人所知，但如果没有莱昂，就不会有莫奈——当今世界都知道的艺术家，”勒斐伏尔说。她解释说，“他有钱的哥哥在他生命的最初阶段支持他，当时他没有钱，没有客户，还在挨饿。” Lefebvre 说，Claude 著名的颜色“来自 Leon 在鲁昂镇创造的合成纺织染料颜色”。鲁昂是克劳德一些最著名的画作的主题。

The exhibition represents years of investigation by Lefebvre. She visited Monet’s great-grandchildren, studied family records and brought to light a painting of Leon by Claude. Leon hid the painting in a private collection. The 1874 artwork has never before been seen by the public. It shows Leon with a black suit, serious expression and red face. The exhibit shows that the long-held belief that the Monet brothers did not communicate is incorrect. “Historians always thought the two brothers had nothing to do with each other," she said.

该展览代表了 Lefebvre 多年的调查。她拜访了莫奈的曾孙，研究了家庭记录，并发现了克劳德 (Claude) 的一幅莱昂 (Leon) 画作。莱昂将这幅画藏在私人收藏中。这件 1874 年的艺术品以前从未被公众看到过。照片中的莱昂身穿黑色西装，表情严肃，脸色通红。该展览表明，长期以来认为莫奈兄弟没有交流的观点是不正确的。 “历史学家一直认为这两兄弟彼此无关，”她说。

“In reality, they were incredibly close throughout their life,” Lefebvre said. The brothers had an argument in the early 1900s and that may explain why no direct signs of the relationship exist. What is now known is that Leon helped his younger brother. He introduced Claude to other artists, gave Claude money, and purchased Claude’s art — buying it at high prices to improve the painter’s public image. “This exhibit is important as it throws light on Leon Monet, who up until now has been an invisible figure,” said Frances Fowle of the National Galleries of Scotland.

“实际上，他们一生都非常亲密，”勒斐伏尔说。兄弟俩在 1900 年代初期发生争执，这或许可以解释为什么没有直接的关系迹象存在。现在知道的是，莱昂帮助了他的弟弟。他把克劳德介绍给其他艺术家，给克劳德钱，买下克劳德的画——高价买下，以提升这位画家的公众形象。苏格兰国家美术馆的弗朗西斯福尔说：“这次展览很重要，因为它揭示了莱昂莫奈，直到现在他一直是一个隐形人物。”

Leon’s influence went beyond his brother: He financially supported other artists such as Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley.Claude Monet also worked for his older brother as a color assistant. Leon would dissolve carbon to create a chemical called aniline, which created synthetic colors that natural colors could not compete with. One of the earlier examples of Leon’s colorful influence on Claude’s art is in the exhibition. It is an 1860s picture Monet drew of his future wife Camille. She appears in a dress of a green color that had never been seen before. “The French press coined the term ‘Monet green,’” Lefebvre said, adding that reporters made fun of it at first. “At the time, they said he would make a good dye artist.” However, both Monets had the last laugh.

莱昂的影响力超越了他的兄弟：他在经济上支持卡米尔·毕沙罗、奥古斯特·雷诺阿和阿尔弗雷德·西斯莱等其他艺术家。克劳德·莫奈还为他的哥哥担任色彩助理。莱昂会溶解碳来制造一种叫做苯胺的化学物质，这种化学物质可以制造出天然色素无法与之抗衡的合成色素。展览中展示了莱昂对克劳德艺术影响的早期例子之一。这是一张 1860 年代莫奈为他未来的妻子卡米尔画的画。她穿着一件以前从未见过的绿色连衣裙出现。 “法国媒体创造了‘莫奈绿’这个词，”Lefebvre 说，并补充说一开始记者们取笑它。 “当时，他们说他会成为一名优秀的染料艺术家。”然而，两位莫奈都笑到了最后。

Claude Monet founded impressionism — a term that comes from his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise” — to become one of the most famous painters of the last two hundred years. And by the height of the artistic movement at the end of the 19th century, “80 percent of all impressionists’ work” used the synthetic colors borrowed from Leon, Lefebvre says Leon Monet. Brother of the Artist and Collector runs at the Musee du Luxembourg in Paris from March 15 until July 16.

克劳德·莫奈 (Claude Monet) 创立了印象派——这个词来自他 1872 年的画作《印象，日出》——成为过去 200 年来最著名的画家之一。列斐伏尔 (Lefebvre) 说，到了 19 世纪末艺术运动的鼎盛时期，“80% 的印象派作品”都使用了从莱昂那里借来的合成色。艺术家和收藏家的兄弟将于 3 月 15 日至 7 月 16 日在巴黎的卢森堡博物馆展出。