Review: A Montage of Monet

A Montage of Monet is a soothing, sedate hour which offers a potted biography of the famous Impressionist. The narrative is a fairly straightforward linear account of his life and times littered with famous names and a gentle sense of the Parisian, French pastoral and indeed London life that influenced his work.

The show begins with Monet, played by award winning actor Stephen Smith, shuffling onto a stool as he takes a break from a painting session capturing the waterlilies at his famous studio in Giverny. What allows is a gentle monologue, casual and conversational in tone, in which he fills us in on the ups and downs of his life, through his two marriages, the death of his first wife, the erratic behaviour of his second, and the challenges of being a professional artist. The chronological account offers little foreshadowing so there’s not really any sense of suspense or tension, but instead you have a relaxing, laid-back atmosphere, at times hypnotic, with an erudite and detailed script from writer Joan Greening.

Smith invests the character with a great sense of personality. He's grouchy, crotchety, more than a tad arrogant and easily riled by domestic trifles. The main love in his life seems to be structure and routine, and indeed his second wife earns his admiration more for the brilliant way in which she manages his household than any notion of artistic inspiration or romance. Smith, despite being a young man himself, convincingly captures Monet in the winter of his life without over exaggerating his elderliness or vulnerability.

I was particularly impressed by the use of projection to provide a constant stream of images, not only portraits of the many artists mentioned but also glimpses of their masterpiece which gave a wonderful and immediate sense of the radical importance of their work and the astounding transformation they enacted on the world of visual art. Although not equally transformative, this is a gloriously intimate hour which gives an interesting and detailed insight into the life of man known as the Founder of Impressionism.