Claude Monet’s Beautiful Paintings of Venice Are Headlining an Exhibition for the First Time in More Than a Century

The paintings came from the French Impressionist’s time in Italy with his wife, Alice, in 1908

Kayla Randall – Digital Editor, Museums

Venice was “too beautiful to be painted,” according to Claude Monet. Yet he painted the Italian city anyway.

In 1908, the famed French Impressionist and his wife, Alice, visited Venice. When they arrived, he told her that the city was “too beautiful” to paint, adding that he was “too old to paint such beautiful things.” He was in his late 60s at the time and didn’t want to go to the city in the first place, Lisa Small, senior curator of European art at the Brooklyn Museum, tells Smithsonian magazine. But his wife encouraged him to come with her on a holiday there, and eventually he agreed. He became enchanted by the location’s light and atmosphere and was able to overcome his doubts.

Monet spent two months in Venice and made 37 oil-on-canvas paintings inspired by his time there, 29 of which debuted in 1912 at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris. Now, the Brooklyn Museum has brought together 19 of Monet’s original Venetian paintings for a new exhibition, “Monet and Venice,” running from October 11 to February 1, 2026. After the show closes in Brooklyn, it will travel to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in March 2026.

Monet’s initial reluctance to paint the city was representative of his artistic anxiety, says Small. Venice had been painted so many times at that point and was heavily mythologized. “If you’re going to try your hand at something that other artists have been painting literally for 500 years … it’s got to be a little bit daunting,” she says.

One review of the 1912 exhibition found that Monet’s views of the city successfully showed “that there is no subject, however hackneyed it may seem, that cannot be renewed and magnified by interpretation.”

Now, in a review of the 2025 exhibition, ARTNews’ Alex Greenberger writes that the showcase “is nothing short of a revelation.”

Monet is best known for his paintings of water lilies; his paintings of Venice are thus generally lesser known.

“I was interested in focusing on this chapter in his career because it was so discreet,” says Small, who co-curated “Monet and Venice” with Melissa Buron, director of collections and chief curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum. While some of the Venice paintings have appeared in other shows over the years, the Brooklyn Museum’s new exhibition is the first “that really takes that group of work as its focus, as the heart of the exhibition since 1912,” Small adds.

Key takeaways: Monet’s time in Venice

• The artist visited Venice only once, on a 1908 holiday with his wife, Alice.
• His trip resulted in 37 paintings of the city, and 19 of them will be displayed at the Brooklyn Museum starting on October 11.

While Monet’s work is celebrated now, and he’s often credited with being the leader of the Impressionist movement, Small says that when he was painting, his work wasn’t as accepted.

His style, with its visible brushstrokes, bright colors and soft appearance, is ingrained and well recognized in the art world today. But it was radical in its time, and some critics didn’t like it, Small says.

As a curator of historical European art, she likes to note that “all art was contemporary at one time or another.”

Alongside Monet’s works, the museum will also feature visions of Venice by other artists, including Canaletto, John Singer Sargent and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The Brooklyn Museum’s composer-in-residence, Niles Luther, wrote a symphony that plays in the final gallery of the exhibition. Luther traveled to Venice to find the same inspiration that Monet did, and his resulting symphony, Souvenir: Venise d’Après Monet, is meant to reflect the artist’s paintings and the city’s environment.

In addition to exploring Monet’s Venice paintings alongside the work of other artists, the exhibition also provides context on how the artworks fit into his own life and career. Monet was a perfect match for Venice because he “was a painter of water,” says Small.

“He was a painter of light for sure—we all know that from Impressionism—but he was a painter of water throughout his entire career,” the curator explains. “We wanted to really show how Venice as a theme, a place where you’re surrounded by water and buildings are reflected in the water, ended up being the perfect Monet motif—an artist obsessed with reflections.”

“Monet and Venice” is on view at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City from October 11 to February 1, 2026.