This is one of three tabletop still lifes depicting a basket of apples and grapes that Monet painted in 1879–80, when a spell of bad weather forced him to retreat indoors. In late November 1879, his future stepdaughter Marthe Hoschedé took note of a "painting of fruits" in progress, when she recorded that Monet was "working hard at his still lifes which are very pretty."
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Artwork Details
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Title:Apples and Grapes
Artist:Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)
Date:1879–80
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:26 5/8 x 35 1/4 in. (67.6 x 89.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Henry R. Luce, 1957
Accession Number:57.183
Inscription: Signed (upper right): Claude Monet
[Georges Petit, Paris, from December 1879; bought from the artist, as "Nature morte"]; Victor Chocquet, Paris (until d. 1898); his wife Marie Buisson Chocquet, Paris (1898–d. 1899; posthumous sale, Georges Petit, Paris, July 1, 3, and 4, 1899, no. 79, for Fr 6,000 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, from 1899]; Edmond Decap, Paris (in 1903); by descent to Mme Maurice Barret-Decap, Biarritz (in 1932); Barret-Decap collection, Paris (until at least 1941); Marcel Kapferer, Paris (by 1947–50); [Wildenstein, New York, 1950, sold on May 24 to Luce]; Henry R. Luce, New York (1950–57)
London. Hanover Gallery. "Exhibition of Pictures by French Impressionists, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Renoir and other Masters," January–February 1901, no. 25 (as "Pommes et Raisins, Nature Morte") [see Wildenstein 1985 and 1996].
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "French Art: 1200–1900," January 4–March 12, 1932, no. 548 (as "Fruits," lent by Barret-Decap, Biarritz) [commemorative catalogue, no. 458, lent by Madame Barret-Decap, Biarritz].
Buenos Aires. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La pintura francesa de David à nuestros días," July 18–August 1939, no. 99 (lent by the Barret-Decap collection, Paris).
San Francisco. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "The Painting of France since the French Revolution," December 1940–January 1941, no. 78 (lent by the Barret-Decap collection, Paris).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Painting from David to Toulouse-Lautrec," February 6–March 26, 1941, no. 93 (lent by the Barret-Decap collection, Paris).
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Pictures Collected by Yale Alumni," May 8–June 18, 1956, no. 83 (as "Corbeille de fruits," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Luce).
New York. Acquavella Galleries. "Claude Monet," October 27–November 28, 1976, no. 33 (as "Corbeille de fruits [Pommes et raisin]," 1879).
Ann Arbor. University of Michigan Museum of Art. "Monet at Vétheuil: The Turning Point," January 25–March 15, 1998, unnumbered cat.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Monet at Vétheuil: The Turning Point," March 28–May 17, 1998, unnumbered cat.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Monet at Vétheuil: The Turning Point," May 30–July 26, 1998, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 89.
Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal. "Claude Monet," October 11, 2009–February 28, 2010, unnumbered cat. (p. 169).
Winterthur. Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz". "Victor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet," February 21–June 7, 2015, no. 10 (as "Corbeille de fruits [pommes et raisin]").
Claude Monet. Letter to Georges de Bellio. January 8, 1880 [published in C. Richebé, "Claude Monet au musée Marmottan," 1959–60, p. 122], states that he has sold the still life that Bellio saw to M. Petit for Fr 500, probably this picture.
New York Herald [Paris] (June 29, 1899) [see Ref. Wildenstein 1974].
Gustave Geffroy. Claude Monet: Sa vie, son temps, son œuvre. Paris, 1922, p. 219.
José Pedro Argul. Pintura Francesa de los Siglos XIX y XX: la exposición de David a Nuestros Días. Exh. cat.Montevideo, 1940, p. 17.
John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. rev., enl. ed. New York, 1961, p. 434.
Luigina Rossi Bortolatto. L'opera completa di Claude Monet, 1870–1889. Milan, 1966, pp. 100–101, no. 187, ill., dates it 1880.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 129–30, ill., dates it about 1880.
John Rewald. "Chocquet and Cézanne." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 74 (July–August 1969), p. 79 [reprinted in Rewald, "Studies in Impressionism," New York, 1985].
Douglas Cooper. "The Monets in the Metropolitan Museum." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 296–97, 303, 305, fig. 22, dates it 1880; claims that Chocquet owned it from the time it was painted.
John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. 4th rev. ed. New York, 1973, p. 434, mentions that Monet sold a still life to Petit in January 1880 for Fr 500, possibly this picture [see Ref. Monet 1880].
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 1, 1840–1881: Peintures. Lausanne, 1974, pp. 100, 106, 350–51, no. 545, ill., dates it 1879 and tentatively identifies it with a still life bought from Monet by Georges Petit in December 1879, and mentioned in a letter from Monet to de Bellio of January 8, 1880.
John House. "The New Monet Catalogue." Burlington Magazine 120 (October 1978), p. 680.
Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 122–23, 252, ill. (color, overall and detail).
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 4, 1899–1926: Peintures. Lausanne, 1985, p. 6 n. 46, p. 23 n. 198, claims that it was included in an exhibition in London in 1901, although he does not list it in his catalogue entry for the picture.
John House. Monet: Nature into Art. New Haven, 1986, pp. 41–42, 236 n. 117, pl. 56, dates it 1879–80 and considers it one of a group of still lifes "directly designed for ready sale".
Karin Sagner-Düchting. Claude Monet, 1840–1926: Ein Fest für die Augen. Cologne, 1990, p. 109, ill. p. 112, dates it 1879.
Christopher Lloyd inAlfred Sisley. Ed. Mary Anne Stevens. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London. New Haven, 1992, p. 174 [French ed., "Sisley," Paris, p. 182], relates the composition to Sisley's "Still Life: Apples and Grapes" (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown) of 1876.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 474, ill.
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet. Vol. 2, Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis: Nos. 1–968. 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 213–14, no. 545, ill. p. 212 (color).
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 149.
Annette Dixon inMonet at Vétheuil: The Turning Point. Exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1998, pp. 76–77, 95, colorpl. 11, suggests that Petit's purchase of it in December 1879 was the decisive factor in persuading Monet to enter the Salon.
David Joel. Monet at Vétheuil and on the Norman Coast, 1878–1883. Woodbridge, England, 2002, p. 106.
Eric M. Zafran inClaude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 133.
Joseph Baillio and Cora Michael inClaude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 198, fig. 9, date it 1879.
Kathryn Calley Galitz inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 125, 239–40, no. 89, ill. (color and black and white).
Kathryn Calley Galitz inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 140, 282–83, no. 129, ill. (color and black and white).
Richard Kendall inNineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Ed. Sarah Lees. Williamstown, Mass., 2012, vol. 2, pp. 737–38 n. 7, under no. 305.
Gloria Groom inMonet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw. Chicago, 2014, paras. 3–4, n. 17, under no. 17, fig. 17.3 (color) [https://publications.artic.edu/monet/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/135470], compares it to “Apples and Grapes” (1880, Art Institute of Chicago; W546); notes it may have been the still life exhibited at "La Vie Moderne" in 1880 as no. 2, “Corbeille de fruits”.
Sylvie Patry inInventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market. Ed. Sylvie Patry. Exh. cat., Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. London, 2015, pp. 104, 277 n. 56 [French ed., "Paul Durand-Ruel: le Pari de l'Impressionnisme," Paris, 2014, pp. 82, 219 n. 56], as possibly the first Monet painting dealer Georges Petit bought, giving date of sale as 1880, but see Wildenstein 1974 and 1996.
Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice inVictor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2015, p. 10.
Kerstin Richter inVictor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2015, pp. 136–38, no. 10, ill. (color), dates it 1879; states that Monet sold it to Georges Petit, Paris, in 1879 as "Nature morte"; links it to a group of still lifes created in the wake of his first wife Camille's death for which the artist worked in pendants; compares it to Monet's "Les Faisans" (Pheasants) (1879–80, W549, private collection, France) and "Faisans, bécasses et perdix" (Pheasants, Woodcocks, and Partridge) (W551, location unknown).
Anne Distel inVictor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2015, p. 205, ill. (color), identifies it as the painting called "Un grand tableau, Corbeille de fruits par Claude Monet" included in the 1899 inventory of Chocquet's house at 7, rue Monsigny, Paris taken after his wife's death.
Impressionist and Modern Art: Evening Sale. Christie's, New York. May 13, 2019, pp. 158–59, under no. 26A, discusses it under the entry for the related picture "Nature morte au melon d'Espagne" (W544, 1879, formerly Frederick A. and Sharon L. Klingenstein collection); states that Petit bought The Met's picture for 500 francs.
In 1879 and 1880 Monet painted at least five still lifes of fruit including this same basket (W544–546, 630, 631). An example in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (W544) is especially close to this composition (W545), also depicting the same table and cloth.
Two other still lifes composed of apples and grapes, one in the Art Institute of Chicago and the other in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, are dated 1880 and are similar in treatment to this picture, which may be dated about the same time.
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