Venice, Palazzo Dario

Claude Monet was reluctant to visit and paint Venice due to the proliferation of images of the city on the art market. When he was finally persuaded to travel there in 1908, however, he found himself inspired by the colors and atmosphere. Although he still worried about producing only trite “souvenir” images of the city, his handling of paint and color here shows his unique perspective on the well-known Palazzo Dario: he depicted the square’s sturdy marble buildings in the same way as the water, subtly dissolving the forms as if they are floating in the Venetian haze.