Monet was a genius.

Saturday we spent the day in Chelsea, mostly gallery hopping. We came across two incredible shows. One was a collection of works by Roy Lichtenstein at Gagosian Gallery. After seeing this collection of work, it is easy to understand why Lichtenstein is regarded as a key figure in American Pop Art. I most enjoyed looking at the small preliminary sketches of most of the works in the show. It is always interesting to see an artist's work process. Lichtenstein was clearly very calculating and I imagine he enjoyed having so much control over the paintings he made.

The highlight of my day, and perhaps the whole trip, was a show of Claude Monet's later works also at Gagosian Gallery. The experience of this show is difficult to describe because it literally is a once in a life time opportunity. The paintings on display have been donated by several museums, but mostly come from private collectors. There will never be another Monet show like this.

Upon entering the extensive gallery space, a sense of gravity settles due to muffled conversation, subdued lighting, and shuffling of numerous shoes. The gallery space is crowded, but not crowded enough that the opportunity to be the sole individual in front of a painting is completely denied.

This show accomplished two things for me: allowed me to see a contrast between Monet's earlier style with his later work, and prove to me that he was a genius. Majority of the works in this show use broad, loose brush strokes that are even more expressive than much of Monet's work. In several of these paintings Monet left whole sections of canvas bare, even using the light color of the canvas as highlights. Monet's use of color is also very bold in this collection of work, especially seen in three paintings that depict the same garden path in which the dominant colors are red and orange. While passing from painting to painting I was able to associate a time of day from my own experiences to Monet's depictions. I could imagine the beginning of a sunset when shadows begin to deepen and become gloomy, the pale washed out brightness of a mid-afternoon, and the moments right before night settles when white and bright color flowers seem to glow with light of their own in the impending darkness. The brilliance of Monet was by no means lost on me before this show, but I have been further convinced of his genius.

Sadly, I photography was not allowed in the gallery (I doubt any photo could give the paintings justice anyway). If you're reading this and have the chance to go to this show, I suggest going as soon as possible.