The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil

The Painting: In the summer of 1874, Edouard Manet was living and working in the suburbs of Paris alongside his younger Impressionist friends. He now embraced their images of leisure painted outdoors in a lighter palette, after his many darker-toned Spanish-influenced paintings of the 1860s and the poor reception of his Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass (both 1863, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Having gingerly approached sunlit scenes viewed from indoors in the early 1870s (such as Interior at Arcachon [1871, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown]), by the mid-1870s Manet fully adopted both Impressionist subjects and plein-air (outdoor) painting, of which The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil is a prime example.

The painting was executed in Monet’s garden at Maison Aubry, the house in Argenteuil (at 2, rue Pierre Guienne) that he initially rented in 1871, most likely with the help of Manet who was then living nearby at his family home in Gennevilliers, just across the Seine.[1] The Met’s picture presents Monet, his first wife, Camille, and their six- or seven-year-old son in a moment of leisure. Jean leans lazily against his mother in a periwinkle sailor suit with sporty red shoes and a straw hat, also with a red rim. Monet, himself, painted his son Jean in this same sailor suit and red-rimmed straw hat the year before in his Poppy Field (see fig. 1 above) and with the hat alone in The Artist's House at Argenteuil (1873, Art Institute of Chicago) and The Luncheon: Decorative Panel (ca. 1873, Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Camille looks out to the viewer with her dark eyes shaded by the tulle brim of her white hat and her left fist supporting her chin. (On the appearance of this distinctive hat in four other Manet paintings of the period, see the entry on Manet’s Boating [The Met 29.100.115].) She sits on the grass in a white dress holding a red fan with her right hand so it peeks up above the dress. The reds in these accoutrements and the rooster’s comb echo the red flowers (identified by Tucker [2000] as geraniums) that border the garden. At left, in dark slacks, a bowler hat, and a periwinkle shirt that rhymes visually with his son’s outfit, the bearded Monet tends to these same flowers, a watering can by his side. The rooster, hen, and chick in the left foreground echo the intimate family threesome (Bailey 1997), Monet’s self-described “bonne petite famille” (good little family),[2] and the border of flowers creates a protective cove for both young families.

Manet’s picture is the only known painting of Monet as a gardener. The late nineteenth-century French horticultural boom had hit Monet hard. Part of his impetus in leaving Paris for its suburbs was to have the opportunity to cultivate his own garden, even in a rented home. As Monet pruned and watered his geraniums, Manet tended to his canvas, planting reds and greens here and there, experimenting with a plein-air Impressionist subject of suburban leisure much like those of his friend Monet.

Implementing Impressionist Painting Techniques: Manet’s use of the broken brushwork typically associated with the Impressionists in the areas of Camille’s and Jean’s faces almost breaks any sense of these facial forms’ solidity, just as the loose brushstrokes defining the trees, shrubs, and grass provide an overall impression of the garden without lingering on specific details. The artist incorporated greys, petal pink, and even black into the white of her dress with long visible strokes that heighten the viewer’s sense of the process of picture-making. Camille’s tan shoes are painted so summarily as to be barely identifiable objects, while Monet’s appear hidden in the grass and Jean’s are highly foreshortened. The picture shares much of the same Impressionist painting techniques as Manet’s Boating (The Met 29.100.115), made that summer at Argenteuil. Manet’s stylistic approach in the summer of 1874 has been traced to the influence of his younger colleagues, with whom he was spending much time. Two years earlier, Monet took up the image of a woman reading in the garden, with Camille in the same garden at Argenteuil surrounded by greenery in dappled light rendered with feathery strokes (fig. 2). Carol Armstrong (2002) suggested that Manet was inspired by the facture of his fellow painter, sometime student, and soon-to-be sister-in-law Berthe Morisot as seen in works of 1873 devoted to similar subjects, such as Reading (fig. 3) and Hide and Seek (private collection), the latter of which was shown in the first Impressionist exhibition in spring 1874. Soon after, the Morisot and Manet families spent part of the summer together at Fécamp.[3] At the least, one could find stylistic influences from both Monet and Morisot in the summer of 1874. Richard Brettell (2000) not only remarked on The Met’s painting’s “wonderfully buttery concoction of wet paint,” but he also noted visible evidence that the artist scraped off at least one layer of paint to begin again, finding the action consistent with Charles S. Moffett’s (1983) analysis of Manet’s frequent use of the palette knife to scrape away compositions that displeased him. Brettell’s theory that Manet scraped off an entire layer of paint related to a prior composition and repainted The Met’s picture, though, has not been substantiated.[4]

Working alongside the Impressionists: Paul Tucker (2000, pp. 27–28) noted that Manet rarely worked alongside other artists (unlike Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley, for example) and that he generally painted in his studio, but that his pictures from 1874 on broke with both of these tendencies. Tucker summarized Manet’s relationship to the Impressionists in Argenteuil in 1874: “In a dramatic role reversal, Manet was in Argenteuil as a student—at least in terms of plein-air painting, since that had not been a consistent part of his oeuvre in the 1860s.” To make himself comfortable with wholeheartedly embracing plein air painting, he seems to have chosen to view it as the revival of a classical technique; he was known to make fun of Monet, his junior by eight years, saying, “This young man claims he paints en plein air as if the old masters had never dreamed of such a thing.”[5]

In July and August of 1874, Manet visited often with Monet’s family across the Seine. In fact, writer-friend Emile Zola noted in a letter to landscape painter Antoine Guillemet on July 23, 1874, “I do not see anybody, am without any news. Manet, who is painting a study in Argenteuil, at Monet’s, cannot be reached” (Zola 1874, translated in White 1996). On this particular day, while Manet painted the Monet family trio, Monet painted Manet at his easel (1874, location unknown).[6] Renoir arrived on the scene, asked to borrow brushes, paint, and canvas, and proceeded to paint his own version of the scene, Madame Monet and Her Son (fig. 4). Renoir limited his subject to mother and child and a rooster. He painted them from a much closer distance; kept what was probably the original red, white, and blue colors of the French flag on her fan;[7] included hints of yellow flowers among the red ones; and employed even more sketch-like brushwork. His palette is brighter. His rooster, seemingly more inquisitive about Camille and Jean than Manet’s feathered friend, approaches the pair at right rather than left. Tucker (2000) has called Manet’s painting more conservatively rendered than the garden scene by Renoir, noting that the older artist’s spatial construction was the more rational of the two, “employing bands of light and dark to establish a measured recession.”

The tale of the interactions among the three painters that day is the stuff of legend. As retold by Monet to Marc Elder (1924), Manet grimaced while observing Renoir painting and whispered to Monet: “He has no talent at all, that boy! You, who are his friend, tell him to give up painting!”[8] Manet’s statement has been read both seriously and jokingly by art historians throughout the near century-and-a-half since. Though this side-by-side painting campaign invited friendly rivalry between the artists, the relationship of Manet and Renoir was far from strained in this period. Manet, who owned Renoir’s early portrait of Bazille (1867, Musée d’Orsay), obviously liked some of his work. Rewald (1973) explained Manet’s comment as an expression of “irritation at a moment of rivalry before the same subject, for he seems to have been genuinely fond of Renoir . . . . “ While Manet had let it be known that he preferred Renoir’s early work to that of the mid-1870s, it is hard to believe that Manet could have meant his remark to be taken seriously, given his indebtedness to the younger artist’s plein-air style and subjects as well as the camaraderie they built working together that summer. Clearly, Monet, himself took the passing remark as a boyish slight intended in fun, for in retelling it to Elder, he commented: “‘C’est drôle, hein, de la part de Manet?’” (‘This was droll on Manet’s part, wasn’t it?’)

Both Manet and Renoir immediately gave their paintings to Monet. In 1876, when Manet and Monet were in a brief quarrel, Manet asked Monet to return The Met’s picture in an exchange (Elder 1924, Wildenstein 1974, and Mathieu 2017). Manet then sold the painting two years later.

Jane R. Becker 2018

[1] On Monet’s lack of ties to the area, his choice to live in Argenteuil as likely at Manet’s suggestion, and Manet’s role in finding Monet’s first landlady Madame Aubry-Villet, see Paul Tucker, Monet at Argenteuil (New Haven, 1982), pp. 18–19. On the timing of Monet’s signing a lease to move to a second house in Argenteuil and the lease’s stipulation that occupancy not occur before October of 1874, after Manet painted this picture, see Moffett 1983. Rewald (1973) noted that Manet helped Monet after he had gotten into trouble with an earlier landlord.
[2] Letter from Monet to Frédéric Bazille, Etretat, December 1868; see Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné (Lausanne, 1974), vol. 1, 1840–1881: Peintures, p. 425, letter no. 44.
[3] See Denis Rouart, ed., Berthe Morisot: The Correspondence with her family and her friends Manet, Puvis de Chavannes, Degas, Monet, Renoir and Mallarmé (Mount Kisco, N.Y., 1987), p. 93.
[4] Brettell cites Moffett 1983, pp. 375–77. Only p. 375 mentions one instance of scraping off and repainting, though other entries of Moffett’s do discuss Manet’s use of this technique. On p. 363, in his entry on The Met’s picture, Moffett did state that “in some areas, Manet applied thinned paint that he scraped or wiped away, leaving a translucent film of green underpaint.” However, while Manet frequently revisited compositions and made changes and while The Monet Family includes thinner areas of paint, some with thicker paint added atop it, there is no clear evidence that Manet “scraped off at least one layer of paint to begin again” (Brettell 2000, p. 87). The Met’s conservator Charlotte Hale examined the painting in January 2018 and, like Moffett, found that while the underlayer of thinned paint does appear to have been rubbed and possibly scraped in certain areas, it reads to her as the artist’s initial lay-in of the present composition rather than a different composition that was abandoned.
[5] Quoted by Hélène Adhémar in the foreword to Hélène Adhémar, ed., Hommage à Claude Monet (1840–1926) (Paris, 1980), p. 15.
[6] Monet’s Manet peignant dans le jardin de Monet à Argenteuil was formerly in the collection of the painter Max Liebermann. It was stolen from Mme Riezler-Liebermann’s collection in New York in 1935. See Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné (Geneva, 1974), vol. 1, p. 260, no. 342 and White 1996, p. 270.
[7] Camille can be seen with this same red, white, and blue fan in Monet’s La Japonaise (Camille Monet in Japanese Costume) (1876, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
[8] “‘Il n’a aucun talent, ce garcon-là! Vous qui êtes son ami, dites-lui donc de renoncer à la peinture!’” See also Ambroise Vollard, La vie et l’oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Paris, 1919), p. 67, and Etienne Moreau-Nélaton (1926), who record variations on the wording of Manet’s famous comment.

Inscription: Signed (lower right): Manet

Claude Monet, Argenteuil (1874–76; gift from Manet and returned to him); Édouard Manet, Paris (1876–78; sold for Fr 750 to Toul); [Toul, Paris, from 1878]; Auguste Pellerin, Paris (by 1900–1910; sold to Bernheim-Jeune, Durand-Ruel, and Cassirer); [Bernheim-Jeune and Durand-Ruel, Paris, and Paul Cassirer, Berlin, in shares, by February 18, 1910; sold by Cassirer on July 13 for 80,850 Marks (approx. Fr 100,000) to Arnhold]; Eduard Arnhold, Berlin (1910–d. 1925); his widow, Johanna Arnhold (Johanna Arnthal), Berlin (1925–d. 1929); their daughter, Mrs. Carl Clewing (Elisabeth, called Else; formerly Mrs. Erich Kuhnheim), Berlin (from 1929); her children, Hugo Eduard Kunheim, Arnold Ernst Kunheim, and Erika Kunheim, Berlin; Alberto Ulrich, Zürich (until 1964; sold on February 19, through the Alfred Daber Gallery, Paris, for $510,000 to Knoedler); [Knoedler, New York, 1964; stock no. A8628; sold on February 20 for $605,000 to Payson]; Joan Whitney Payson, New York and Manhasset (1964–d. 1975)

Paris. Exposition Internationale Universelle. "Exposition Centennale de l'art français (1800–1889)," May–November 1900, no. 451 (as "Portraits en plein air," lent by M. Pellerin).

Munich. Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser. "Édouard Manet (Aus der Sammlung Pellerin)," 1910, no. 8 [see Rouart and Wildenstein 1975].

Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "XII. Jahrgang, VIII. Ausstellung [Edouard Manet (Sammlung Pellerin)]," 1910, no. 8 as Freilichbildnis (Claude Monet und sein Familie), 1874" [see Rouart and Wildenstein 1975 and Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011].

Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Trente-cinq tableaux de la collection Pellerin," June 1910, no. 6.

Berlin. Preussische Akademie der Künste. "Fruhjahrausstellung," 1926, no. ? [see Rouart and Wildenstein 1975].

Brussels. Palais des Beaux-Arts. "L'Impressionnisme," June 15–September 29, 1935, no. 33 (lent by Maison Arnhold, Berlin).

New York. M. Knoedler & Co. "Impressionist Treasures from Private Collections in New York," January 12–29, 1966, no. 14 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Payson).

Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Manet, 1832–1883," April 22–August 1, 1983, no. 141.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet, 1832–1883," September 10–November 27, 1983, no. 141.

Baltimore Museum of Art. "Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections," October 10, 1999–January 30, 2000, no. 36.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections," March 25–May 7, 2000, no. 36.

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections," May 28–July 30, 2000, no. 36.

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. "Édouard Manet und die Impressionisten," September 21, 2002–February 9, 2003, no. 40.

Budapest. Szépmüvészeti Múzeum. "Monet et ses amis," December 1, 2003–March 15, 2004, no. 63.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 61.

Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.

Toledo Museum of Art. "Manet: Portraying Life," October 4, 2012–January 1, 2013, no. 25.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Manet: Portraying Life," January 26–April 14, 2013, no. 25.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Homer, Leighton, Manet: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 25–July 7, 2013, no catalogue.

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse," October 11, 2015–January 5, 2016, no. 10.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence," March 12–July 29, 2018, unnumbered cat.

Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Manet / Degas," March 28–July 23, 2023, unnumbered cat. (colorpl. 89).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet / Degas," September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024, unnumbered cat. (colorpl. 113).

Emile Zola. Letter to Antoine Guillemet. July 23, 1874 [published in F. W. J. Hemmings and Robert J. Niess, "Émile Zola, Salons," Paris, 1959, p. 25], mentions that Manet is painting a study in Monet's garden in Argenteuil, possibly this picture [also see Moffett 1983].

Hugo von Tschudi. "Die Jahrhundert-Ausstellung der Französischen Kunst." Die Kunst für Alle 16 (October 15, 1900), pp. 42, 49, ill., discusses it in the text as "'Familie Monets' im Garten" (Monet Family in the Garden) but illustrates it with the caption "Portraits en plein air" (Portraits in plein air).

Vittorio Pica. "La Pittura all'esposizione di Parigi." Emporium 13 (January 1901), ill. p. 43, as "Ritratto in piena luce" (Portrait in plein air).

Théodore Duret. Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son œuvre. Paris, 1902, pp. 100, 236, no. 176, dates it 1874 and places it in the collection of Auguste Pellerin, Paris.

Hugo v. Tschudi. Édouard Manet. Berlin, 1902, p. 24.

Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manuscrit de l'œuvre d'Édouard Manet, peinture et pastels. [1906], unpaginated, no. 186 [Département des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris].

George Moore. Reminiscences of the Impressionist Painters. Dublin, 1906 [reprinted in T. A. Gronberg, "Manet, A Retrospective," New York, 1990, pp. 269–70], notes that Monet painted Manet and Mme Manet in the same garden pictured here, and that Monet and Manet exchanged these pictures, but after a quarrel returned them to each other; remarks that he never saw Monet's picture of the Manets.

"L'exode en Allemagne des maîtres de l'impressionnisme." L'art et les artistes 11 (April 1910), p. 45, claims that it was sold from the Pellerin collection for Fr 200,000 and lists the price for Desboutin as Fr 250,000.

G. J. W. "Von Ausstellungen und Sammlungen." Die Kunst für Alle 25 (May 15, 1910), p. 378.

Emil Waldmann. "Édouard Manet in der Sammlung Pellerin." Kunst und Künstler 8 (May 1910), pp. 392, 395, ill.

"Kunst, Wissenschaft und Literatur: Der Verkauf einer grossen Manet-Sammlung." Vossische Zeitung, 3rd supplement, no. 82, 3rd supplement (February 18, 1910), unpaginated [p. 10; reprinted in Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 403], reports the purchase of the Pellerin collection, including this picture, by the consortium of Paul Cassirer in Berlin and Durand-Ruel and Bernheim in Paris for two million of unspecified currency.

Fritz Stahl. "Manet. Zur Ausstellung im Salon Cassirer." Berliner Tageblatt 39 (March 23, 1910), p. 1 [reprinted in Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 410], observes the harmony of the colors.

Georg Hermann. "Manet. Zur Ausstellung bei Cassirer." BZ am Mittag no. 69 (March 23, 1910) [see Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011, vol. 4, p. 406], calls it a major work.

B. [Oscar Bie]. "Hier und dort." Berliner Börsen-Courier no. 139 (March 24, 1910) [see Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, pp. 411–12], calls it “ein helles buntes Stück, mit dem stofflichen Reiz, Monet als Gärtner zu sehen und seine Frau statuenhaft mit ausgebreitetem Kleid im Grase sitzend” [a brightly colored piece, with the substantial allure of seeing Monet as a gardener and his wife sitting statuesquely in the grass with her dress spread out].

Dr. Ernst Diez. "Die Manet-Ausstellung bei Cassirer." Unterhaltungs Beilage zur Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung no. 74 (March 31, 1910), p. 1 [reprinted in Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 414], notes approvingly that it and other major works from the last decade of Manet’s career will remain in Germany after the exhibition.

Hans Rosenhagen. "Edouard Manet. Zur Ausstellung der Sammlung Pellerin im Salon Paul Cassirer." Der Tag no. 80 (April 7, 1910) [see Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 421], calls it a “herrliche Bild” [marvelous picture].

Oskar Anwand. "Manet: Ein Maler der Vergangenheit." Deutsche Tageszeitung no. 161 (April 8, 1910) [see Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 426], praises it for its rendering of natural light.

L[udwig]. P[ietsch]. "Die Manet-Ausstellung." Vossische Zeitung, 12th Supplement, no. 167, 12th Supplement (April 10, 1910), p. 1 [reprinted in Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 431], notes it as one of “zwei Freilichtskizzen von guter heller Tonwirkung, aber mit kaum mehr als nur angedeuteten Gestalten und Gesichtern” [two plein-air sketches with good bright tonal effects, but with little more than hinted at figures and faces]; praises the graceful grouping of Monet’s wife and son.

Werner Weisbach. Impressionismus: Ein Problem der Malerei in der Antike und Neuzeit. Vol. 2, Berlin, 1911, p. 115, ill. opp. p. 114 (color), as in the Arnhold collection, Berlin.

G. J. Wolf. "Édouard Manet." Die Kunst für Alle 26 (January 1, 1911), p. 145, ill.

Jean Laran and Georges Le Bas. Manet. Paris, 1912, p. 71, pl. XXVIII.

Julius Meier-Graefe. Edouard Manet. Munich, 1912, p. 316, pl. 129, states that Arnhold bought it in 1910, along with the "Portrait of Desboutin" (Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo).

Carl Gebhardt. "Die Neuerwerbungen Französicher Malerei im Städelschen Kunstinstitut zu Frankfurt am Main." Der Cicerone 4 (October 15, 1912), p. 765, as in the Arnhold collection.

Max Deri. Die Malerei im XIX. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1920, vol. 1, p. 149; vol. 2, pl. 26.

Ambroise Vollard. Auguste Renoir (1841–1919). 5th ed. Paris, 1920, p. 74, repeats a conversation between himself and Renoir, where Renoir describes how he and Manet painted this subject simultaneously; believes that Manet made his remark concerning Renoir's lack of talent to Monet only after Renoir had left.

Emil Waldmann. Edouard Manet. Berlin, 1923, pp. 66–67, ill., mistakenly dates it 1875.

Marc Elder. A Giverny, chez Claude Monet. Paris, 1924, pp. 70–71, repeats a conversation with Monet, who describes how Manet and Renoir came to paint this subject side by side in his garden at Argenteuil, and how Manet, after several glances at Renoir's canvas, came over to whisper to Monet that he should advise his friend to give up painting, as he obviously had no talent; also states that although Manet gave this picture to him, he later took it back in exchange for Monet's "Woman in the Garden" (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Ambroise Vollard. Renoir, An Intimate Record. New York, 1925, p. 70.

Marie Dormoy. "La collection Arnhold." L'amour de l'art 7 (July 1926), pp. 242, 244, ill., erroneously calls it "La famille Manet".

Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manet raconté par lui-même. Paris, 1926, vol. 2, pp. 24–25, 40–41, 116, fig. 190.

Karl Scheffler. "Vergleichende Kunstanschauung in der Frühjahrsausstellung der Akademie der Künste." Kunst und Künstler 24 (1926), p. 344.

A. Tabarant. Manet, histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931, p. 270, no. 222.

Gaston Poulain. Bazille et ses amis. Paris, 1932, p. 103 n. 1, states that Manet took this picture back from Monet in 1876 and sold it a week later [but see Ref. Moffett 1983].

Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. Paris, 1932, vol. 1, pp. 22, 93, 149, no. 245; vol. 2, pl. 357.

"Notes biographiques." L'amour de l'art 13 (May 1932), p. 147.

Paul Colin. Édouard Manet. Paris, 1932, pl. XLVI, as in the collection of E. Arnhold, Berlin.

René Huyghe. "Manet, peintre." L'amour de l'art no. 5 (May 1932), p. 184, fig. 79.

A. Tabarant. "Manet (a propos de son centenaire)." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 61 (1932), p. 23, ill.

Ambroise Vollard. Recollections of a Picture Dealer. London, 1936, p. 169.

Helen Comstock. "The Connoisseur in America: A Child Portrait by Manet." Connoisseur 97 (May 1936), p. 282, erroneously refers to it as "La famille Manet dans le jardin".

Gotthard Jedlicka. Édouard Manet. Zürich, 1941, ill. opp. p. 177.

John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. New York, 1946, pp. 276–77, ill., as whereabouts unknown.

A. Tabarant. Manet et ses œuvres. 4th ed. (1st. ed. 1942). Paris, 1947, pp. 250, 252, 254, 288, 513, 539, no. 233, fig. 233, discusses in detail Manet's alleged remark to Monet, and finds it unlikely to have actually been said.

Michel Florisoone. Manet. Monaco, 1947, p. 64, ill., as in the E. Arnhold collection, Berlin.

Douglas Cooper. Manet: Paintings. London, 1950, p. 5.

George Heard Hamilton. Manet and His Critics. New Haven, 1954, p. 176 n. 3.

Jean Leymarie. Impressionism. Lausanne, 1955, vol. 2, p. 32.

Georges Bataille. Manet: Biographical and Critical Study. New York, 1955, p. 12.

Maurice Sérullaz. Les peintres impressionnistes. Paris, 1959, p. 102, as in a private collection, Berlin.

Theodore Rousseau in "Ninety-fifth Annual Report of the Trustees, for the Fiscal Year 1964–1965." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 24 (October 1965), p. 58, lists it as an anonymous loan to the department during the fiscal year 1964–65.

Franz Winzinger. "Madame Monet als Modell: Ein unbekanntes Bild von Manet." Die Kunst und das schöne Heim 63 (September 1965), p. 513.

Charles Merrill Mount. Monet, a biography. New York, 1966, pp. 252–53.

F. N. "Durchbruch der Impressionisten." Weltkunst 36 (February 15, 1966), p. 129, ill., repeats with some scepticism Manet's alleged remark to Monet concerning Renoir's talent.

Stuart Preston. "New York Letter: The Harvest of Time." Apollo 83 (March 1966), p. 223, ill., favors this version of the subject over Renoir's, stating that Manet's "portrayal of Madame Monet has the greater psychological expressiveness".

John Rewald. "How New York Became the Capital of 19th-century Paris." Art News 64 (January 1966), pp. 34, 36, ill. (color).

Sandra Orienti in The Complete Paintings of Manet. New York, 1967, p. 104, no. 198, ill.

Paulette Howard-Johnston. "Une visite à Giverny en 1924." L'Oeil no. 171 (March 1969), pp. 30, 32–33, ill., erroneously gives the owner as Eduard Arnhold.

J. Salomon. "Chez Monet avec Vuillard et Roussel." L'Oeil no. 197 (May 1971), p. 24.

Germain Bazin. Édouard Manet. Milan, 1972, p. 79, ill. [French ed., 1974], erroneously gives the title as "La famiglia Manet in giardino".

John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. 4th rev. ed. New York, 1973, pp. 341–43, ill., as whereabouts unknown; suggests that Manet's remark to Monet concerning Renoir's lack of talent, "if it was actually made, can only reflect Manet's irritation at a moment of rivalry before the same subject, for he seems to have been genuinely fond of Renoir and had heretofore frequently expressed his liking for him".

Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 1, 1840–1881: Peintures. Lausanne, 1974, p. 150, under no. 67, notes that in 1876 Manet exchanged Monet's "Women in the Garden" (ca. 1866, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) with Monet for the return of a painting by Manet representing Camille Monet in the garden of Argenteuil.

Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein. Édouard Manet, catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1975, vol. 1, pp. 6, 19, 190–91, no. 227, ill.

Bernard Dorival in Pèlerinage à Watteau. Exh. cat., Musée de la Monnaie. Paris, 1977, vol. 1, p. 125, notes the indebtedness of the figures of Madame Monet and Jean to a group in Watteau's "Divertissements champêtres," today known as "Les Champs Elisées" (ca. 1720–21, Wallace Collection, London).

Anne Distel. Hommage à Claude Monet (1840–1926). Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1980, p. 111.

Charles S. Moffett in Manet, 1832–1883. Ed. Françoise Cachin and Charles S. Moffett. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 29, 33, 54, 360–63, 373, no. 141, ill. (color, overall and detail) [French ed., Paris, pp. 29, 32, 54, 359–63, 373, no. 141, ill. (color, overall and detail)], remarks that Manet provided the hat worn by Mme Monet as a prop, because it belonged to his wife and it appears in several of his works including "Boating" (The Met 29.100.115); comments on the technique.

Pierre Daix. La vie de peintre d'Édouard Manet. Paris, 1983, p. 256, fig. 32.

Michael Wilson. Manet at Work. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1983, p. 40, notes its free handling and that it is documented as having been painted outdoors.

John House. "Seeing Manet Whole." Art in America 71 (November 1983), pp. 185–86, ill. p. 184 (color), states that the cock, hen, and chick that parade in front of the Monet family "are surely more than mere visual accents".

Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 46–47, ill. (color, overall and detail).

Anne Distel in Renoir. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery. [London], 1985, pp. 205–6, under no. 30, fig. a [French ed., p. 126, under no. 29, fig. 31], compares it to Renoir's version of the same subject painted at the same time.

Kathleen Adler. Manet. Oxford, 1986, pp. 168–69, fig. 158 (color).

Nicolaas Teeuwisse. Vom Salon zur Secession: Berliner Kunstleben zwischen Tradition und Aufbruch zur Moderne, 1871–1900. Berlin, 1986, pp. 223, 306 n. 527.

Barbara Paul. "Drei Sammlungen französischer impressionister Kunst im kaiserlichen Berlin - Bernstein, Liebermann, Arnhold." Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft 42 (1988), pp. 21, 23, 29, n. 88, fig. 8 (installation photograph), publishes a photograph of this work hanging in Eduard Arnhold's house in 1920.

Nathalie Malterre. "Société et vie parisienne dans l'oeuvre de Manet." PhD diss., Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1988, vol. 1, p. 205; vol. 2, pl. 23 b, as "Madame Claude Monet et son fils".

Juliet Wilson-Bareau. "L'année impressionniste de Manet: Argenteuil et Venise en 1874." Revue de l'art 86 (1989), p. 34 n. 24.

Josef Kern. Impressionismus im Wilhelminischen Deutschland: Studien zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte des Kaiserreichs. PhD diss., Universität Würzburg. Würzburg, 1989, pp. 155, 472–73, includes it in a list of works from the Pellerin collection showing that the consortium of dealers from whom Arnhold purchased it originally wanted two hundred thousand francs for it.

Éric Darragon. Manet. Paris, 1991, pp. 246, 286, colorpl. 169.

Juliet Wilson-Bareau. Manet by Himself, Correspondence & Conversation: Paintings, Pastels, Prints & Drawings. Boston, 1991, pp. 8, 159, 311 no. 160, colorpl. 160, calls it "The Monet Family in the Garden".

Sarah Carr-Gomm. Manet. London, 1992, pp. 112–13, ill. (color), calls it one of Manet's "least confrontational figure groups".

Margaret Fitzgerald Farr. "Impressionist Portraiture: A Study in Context and Meaning." PhD diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1992, pp. 45–46, pl. 7.

Vivien Perutz. Edouard Manet. Lewisburg, Pa., 1993, p. 162, fig. 177, remarks that in style it is very close to "Swallows" (RW190; Foundation Collection, E. G. Bührle, Zürich), but that in color and shape the figures are more integrated with the landscape.

Kermit Swiler Champa. 'Masterpiece' Studies: Manet, Zola, Van Gogh, and Monet. University Park, Pa., 1994, p. 142, ill. between pp. 17 and 19.

James H. Rubin. Manet's Silence and the Poetics of Bouquets. Cambridge, Mass., 1994, p. 189, fig. 76, as "The Monet Family in the Garden".

Charles F. Stuckey. Claude Monet, 1840–1926. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1995, p. 199.

Albert Kostenevich. Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Exh. cat.New York, 1995, p. 144.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 446, ill., as "The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil".

Hans Körner. Edouard Manet: Dandy, Flaneur, Maler. Munich, 1996, p. 147, fig. 118.

Alan Krell. Manet and the Painters of Contemporary Life. London, 1996, pp. 129, 131, fig. 120.

Barbara Ehrlich White. Impressionists Side by Side: Their Friendships, Rivalries, and Artistic Exchanges. New York, 1996, p. 72, ill. (color).

Götz Adriani. Renoir. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Tübingen. Cologne, 1996, pp. 123–24, ill. (color).

Colin B. Bailey in Colin B. Bailey. Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. New Haven, 1997, pp. 57, 130–31, fig. 144, notes that the rooster, hen, and chick wittily underscore the Monet family's relationship and identifies the site as the garden of their rented house, Maison Aubry, at 2, rue Pierre Guienne, Argenteuil.

Important Paintings and Sculpture formerly in the Auguste Pellerin Collection. Christie's, New York . November 8, 1999, p. 7.

John House in Sona Johnston. Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. New York, 1999, pp. 19, 25.

Sona Johnston and Susan Bollendorf in Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections. Ed. Sona Johnston. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. New York, 1999, pp. 110–11, no. 36, ill. (color).

Peter Paret in Emily D. Bilski. Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890–1918. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum, New York. Berkeley, 1999, p. 56, fig. 49 (photograph of the painting hanging in Arnhold's home).

Richard R. Brettell. Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860–1890. Exh. cat., National Gallery, London. New Haven, 2000, pp. 87–88, 162, fig. 46 (color), remarks that there is visible evidence that Manet scraped off at least one layer of paint to begin the painting again.

Paul Hayes Tucker. The Impressionists at Argenteuil. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2000, p. 96, ill. (color), under no. 21, notes that Manet's presentation of the space is more rational than Renoir's in "Madame Monet and Her Son in Their Garden at Argenteuil" (1874, National Gallery of Art, Washington), using bands of light and dark to display spatial recession, and that it is both larger and "more worked" than Renoir's; calls Manet's the more conservative view; declares the apparent spontaneity of the scene in both artists' views "quite deliberate".

Michael Dorrmann in Die Moderne und ihre Sammler: Französische Kunst in Deutschem Privatbesitz vom Kaiserreich zur Weimarer Republik. Ed. Andrea Pophanken and Felix Billeter. Berlin, 2001, pp. 28–29, 38 n. 35, states that it was among the paintings by Manet and Monet in Arnhold's collection that convincingly portray happy moments of bourgeois leisure time through their play of light and color; notes that the existence of such pictures in his collection contributed to Arnhold's position as a key advocate for Impressionism in Germany.

Jill Berk Jiminez in Dictionary of Artists' Models. Ed. Jill Berk Jiminez and Joanna Banham. London, 2001, pp. 166–68.

Richard Shone. The Janice H. Levin Collection of French Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, fig. 9.

Carol Armstrong. Manet Manette. New Haven, 2002, p. 213, fig. 102.

Michael Dorrmann. Eduard Arnhold (1849–1925): Eine biographische Studie zu Unternehmer- und Mäzenatentum im Deutschen Kaiserreich. PhD diss., Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Berlin, 2002, pp. 128, 130, 136, 140, 347, no. A36, pl. 19 (installation photo), notes that Cassirer sold it to Arnhold on July 13, 1910 for 80,850 Marks (about Fr 100,000).

Manuela B. Mena Marqués in Manet en el Prado. Ed. Manuela B. Mena Marqués. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2003, pp. 121, 296, 420, 478, fig. 140 (color), suggests that this composition was heavily influenced by Manet's early interest in Titian's painting of the Virgin and Saint Catherine (Musée du Louvre, Paris).

Judit Geskó in Monet et ses amis. Ed. Judit Geskó. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. Budapest, 2003, pp. 250–52, no. 63, ill. (color), compares it to Renoir's painting of the same subject in Washington.

Gilles Néret. Edouard Manet, 1832–1883: Le premier des modernes. Cologne, 2003, p. 65, ill. p. 66 (color).

Clare A. P. Willsdon. In the Gardens of Impressionism. New York, 2004, pp. 141–42, 144–45, 158, 179, 184, 197, 265 n. 46, p. 282, colorpl. 149, discusses the Royalist attempt to dissolve the French republic in the summer of 1874 and finds political associations in the red, white, and blue of the fan, dress, and sailor suit in this picture; connects the placement of Monet's wife and son on the ground like "roots of a tree" with the Republican writer, Jules Michelet's imagery of trees and the trees of liberty planted during the 1789 and 1848 French revolutions, arguing that this "tightly integrated imagery of family, motherhood, childhood and husbandry, would thus have constituted an unmistakable assertion of modern Republican ideals".

John House in The Painter's Garden: Design, Inspiration, Delight. Ed. Sabine Schulze. Exh. cat., Städel Museum. Frankfurt, 2006, pp. 191, 198 n. 3, fig. 3 (color).

Ross King. The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism. New York, 2006, pp. 360–61, ill.

John Zarobell in Renoir Landscapes: 1865–1883. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2007, p. 152, fig. 84 (color).

Robert McDonald Parker in Renoir Landscapes: 1865–1883. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2007, p. 274.

Joseph Baillio and Cora Michael in Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 192, fig. 7.

Gary Tinterow in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 89, 232, no. 61, ill. (color and black and white).

Ruth Butler. Hidden in the Shadow of the Master: The Model-Wives of Cézanne, Monet, and Rodin. New Haven, 2008, pp. 170–71, ill., follows Willsdon's (2004) reading of the Republican imagery in the use of the French nation's red, white, and blue colors and adds that the cock included in the picture is a notable Gallic symbol.

Mary Mathews Gedo. Monet and His Muse: Camille Monet in the Artist's Life. Chicago, 2010, pp. 140–43, 148, 254 n. 20, p. 264 nn. 11, 12, fig. 9.3 (color), states that Manet probably determined the poses and costumes for The Met's picture and that he probably worked on it over several sessions, as opposed to Renoir's image of the scene, which probably was completed in a single session; concludes that this longer period of execution would explain Monet's dual presence both in Manet's painting and in the garden somewhere outside of it, painting Manet at his easel (1874, location unknown); notes that the intimate, relaxed poses of mother and child diverge from Monet's own representations of his wife and child.

Anne Distel. Renoir. New York, 2010, p. 113, colorpl. 91.

Laurence Madeline. "C'était l'été 74. Manet face à Monet." 48/14: La revue du Musée d'Orsay no. 31 (Spring 2011), pp. 57–60, fig. 2 (color), discusses the picture as capturing the similar generative qualities of gardening and painting for Monet and in the context of Manet's "vampirization" of Monet's open-air painting techniques that summer.

Janet Whitmore. "Review of Gedo 2010." Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 10 (Spring 2011) [http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/spring11/monet-and-his-muse-camille-monet-in-the-artists-life-mary-mathews-gedo].

MaryAnne Stevens in Manet: Portraying Life. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. London, 2012, pp. 26, 92, 180, under no. 12, p. 184, under nos. 22, 23, pp. 185, 199, under no. 54, no. 25, ill. pp. 107, 185 (color), compares it to Manet's "In the Garden" (1870, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vt) and "A Game of Croquet" (1873, Städel Museum, Frankfurt); asserts that it was executed en plein air; discusses it in the context of Manet's paintings about the art of painting.

Colin B. Bailey in Manet: Portraying Life. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. London, 2012, pp. 64–65, discusses the artist's editing of this plein-air painting.

Sarah Lea in Manet: Portraying Life. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. London, 2012, p. 172.

Stefanie Manthey and Nina Zimmer in Renoir, Between Bohemia and Bourgeoisie: The Early Years. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Ostfildern, 2012, pp. 110–11 n. 1, under no. 31.

Caroline Holmes. Impressionists in their Gardens. Woodbridge, England, 2012, p. 149, ill. pp. 150–51 (color), mistakenly identifies the bed of flowers behind the figures as a rose and dahlia bed.

Stéphane Guégan in Manet: Ritorno a Venezia. Ed. Stéphane Guégan. Exh. cat., Palazzo Ducale. Venice, 2013, p. 83.

Flavio Fergonzi in Manet: Ritorno a Venezia. Ed. Stéphane Guégan. Exh. cat., Palazzo Ducale. Venice, 2013, pp. 211, 220, 254 n. 27, p. 256 n. 76, fig. 75 (illustration from Pica 1901), notes that its illustration in Pica 1901, eighteen years after Manet's death, was the first time a work by Manet was reproduced in Italy.

Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer. Ed. Bernhard Echte and Walter Feilchenfeldt. Vol. 4, Die Ausstellungen 1908–1910. Wãdenswil, Zürich, 2013, pp. 247, 249, 254 n. 60, 403, 406, 410–12, 414, 421, 426, 431, 439, 491, ill. (color), as “Freilichtbildnis (Claude Monet und seine Familie)”; republish Vossische Zeitung 1910, Stahl 1910, Bie 1910, Diez 1910, Rosenhagen 1910, Anwand 1910, and Pietsch 1910.

Willibald Sauerländer. Manet paints Monet: A Summer in Argenteuil. Los Angeles, 2014, pp. 38–39, fig. 24 (color), discusses the "big-city boulevardier" Manet's psychological distance from the happy family trio in "rural paradise".

Colin B. Bailey. "The Floating Studio." New York Review of Books 62 (April 23, 2015), p. 54.

Clare A. P. Willsdon in Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. London, 2015, pp. 32, 83, 85, 315 n. 27, no. 10, ill. p. 97 (color), notes that it is the only known Impressionist painting of Monet as a gardener.

Ségolène Le Men and Sylvain Amic in Scènes de la vie impressionniste: Manet, Renoir, Monet, Morisot . . . Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen. Paris, 2016, p. 34.

Marianne Mathieu in Marianne Mathieu and Dominique Lobstein. Monet the Collector. Exh. cat., Musée Marmottan Monet. Paris, 2017, pp. 84, 86, 101, fig. 10 (color), notes that it was in 1876 that a piqued Manet requested and received this painting back from Monet in exchange for Monet's own "Women in the Garden" (ca. 1866, Musée d'Orsay, Paris); bases this dating on both Elder 1924 and Wildenstein 1974.

Marianne Mathieu, Dominique Lobstein, and Claire Gooden in Marianne Mathieu and Dominique Lobstein. Monet the Collector. Exh. cat., Musée Marmottan Monet. Paris, 2017, p. 272, ill. (color), as in Manet's collection from 1876 on; incorrectly list the work as no. 45 in the 1900 exhibition.

Gerhard Finckh in Edouard Manet. Ed. Gerhard Finckh. Exh. cat., Von der Heydt-Museum. Wuppertal, 2017, p. 20.

Colta Ives. Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2018, pp. 114, 184, ill. p. 108, fig. 113 (color, overall and detail).

Gloria Groom in Manet and Modern Beauty: The Artist's Last Years. Ed. Scott Allan, Emily A. Beeny, and Gloria Groom. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Los Angeles, 2019, p. 73.

Gwendoline Corthier-Hardoin in "Building Impressionist Collections: Between Fraternity and Sales Strategies." Collecting Impressionism: A Reappraisal of the Role of Collectors in the History of the Movement. Ed. Ségolène Le Men and Félicie Faizand de Maupeou. Milan, 2022, p. 75, fig. 2 (color).

Stephan Wolohojian and Ashley E. Dunn. Manet/Degas. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. New York, 2023, p. 298, ill. pp. 218–19, back cover (color details), colorpl. 113.

Manet/Degas. Ed. Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan, and Isolde Pludermacher. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2023, p. 258, colorpl. 89, as "La Famille Monet au jardin".

Stéphane Guégan in Manet/Degas. Ed. Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan, and Isolde Pludermacher. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2023, p. 122.

Harmon Siegel. Painting with Monet. Princeton, 2024, pp. 201, 214–15, 217, 225–26, 230–32, 239, 289 n. 69, ill. p. 200 and figs. 7.1, 7.23 (color, overall and details), discusses the picture in detail in relation to Renoir's version of the scene; notes that the rooster, hen, and chick are arranged "left to right in order of authority, just like their human counterparts" and that this use of animals "seems to naturalize institutions of marriage and fatherhood"; posits that the painting solicits a two-step response, with Manet having "undermined the putative naturalness of his subject . . . by pointing to its embeddedness in social structures"; of Manet's later demand for the return of this painting, states that this action "asserted [Manet's] separation from Monet's project" and "stood for his rejection of impressionism in both technique and sociability," as it broke up the two versions, which had lived together in Monet's collection.

Richard Thomson. "Review of Siegel 2024." Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 24 (Spring 2025), pp. 176, 178 [https://doi.org/10.29411/ncaw.2025.24.1.13].