Grand official debut for the youngest of the Grimaldi princesses. Accomplices of Monet’s art. In fact, Princess Caroline has sent her youngest daughter Alexandra early to the opening of the major summer exhibition in the Principality of Monaco, dedicated this year to Claude Monet. Carolina of Monaco, a strong passion for art that she also expressed at the NMNM – the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco – has in fact given way this year to her daughter Alexandra, who arrived with Ben-Sylvester Strautmann, whom one at school in Munich, however, knew the son of a wealthy German industrialist family. The young princess has been a permanent couple with him for several years, and a year ago they were together again at the Grimaldi Forum for the opening of the 2022 summer exhibition.
Thus, Alexandra – a passion for literature like her cousin Charlotte and a lover of philosophy – together with her uncle, Prince Albert II, launched the biggest cultural action of the summer on the Riviera, the result of three years of work to bring together the Principality of one hundred masterpieces of the Master of Impressionism.
And the Prince, visiting the preview exhibition, could not help but also look at some of Monet’s works on loan from the private collection of the Grimaldi House: in the estate of the son of Ranieri III and Grace Kelly, in the Prince’s safe, c ‘is also a precious Fabergé egg (loaned in the past for an exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum).
Prince Albert II of Monaco loaned two Monet masterpieces from his private collection to the major summer exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, dedicated to the master of Impressionism, who also worked on the Riviera between Monaco and Bordighera. Minister of State Dartout, who was appointed in 2020, and the Prince’s granddaughter, Alexandra von Hanover, attended the inauguration. (Lyrics: Enrica Roddolo)
(Photo Grimaldi Forum Monaco 2023 – JC Vinaj)
(Photo Grimaldi Forum Monaco 2023 – JC Vinaj)
(Photo Grimaldi Forum Monaco 2023 – JC Vinaj)
(Photo Mika Alesi/Prince’s Palace)
(Photo Grimaldi Forum Monaco 2023 – JC Vinaj)
There are two paintings from the princely collection recovered from the royal palace for the occasion: one of small size, which usually hangs in the Rocher of Monaco in the Salle d’Apparatus, which serves as something of an office and study for the prince is district, unless it is lent for exhibitions. The other, the large painting “Pommiers en fleurs” of 1873, showing the flowering of fruit trees, then attracted the attention of the princes through the large painting “Nymphéas” of 1897 from the Nahmad Collection.
Why does it keep getting attention? “Monet continues to please because his paintings always manage to create a global echo that ties in with the historical moment.” Now on to ecology: with his passion for nature, for a kind of Arcadia, he appeals to the contemporary world that is dedicated to the themes of sustainability and the environment”, explains the commissioner of the exhibition “Monet en pleine lumière” at the Grimaldi Forum Corriere of Monaco until September 3rd, Marianne Mathieu was born in Monaco and is today one of the greatest connoisseurs of the Impressionist master.
Nature, a world and themes are all dedicated to the Prince of Monaco, who made the green plan a route for his kingdom. And for the inauguration with Albert II, with the President of the Grimaldi Forum Henri Fissore and the Director Sylvie Biancheri, Minister of State Pierre Dartout was indeed appointed in 2020.
“It was in 1893 that Monet first arrived in Monaco and then moved to Bordighera: here he painted a Tête de Chien, but he didn’t stay there long because the principality was too crowded for him, so he decided to set off there a lot quieter places on the Riviera, where he worked until 1888, when he matured», says Mathieu. And it is the first time that his works inspired and painted in the Riviera, Bordighera but also Roquebrune Cap Martin and Dolceacqua arrive in Monaco all together.
“There is no doubt that it is the first time that 23 exceptional works painted by Monet between Monaco and the Riviera are brought together in this work overlooking the sea in which they were conceived and created.” “I only remember a retrospective exhibition in the US many years ago,” concludes the commissioner. And of course the loans are from museums, from many American collectors, who have always been most passionate about Monet, but which attracts audiences from all over the world, from France to the United Kingdom. In all, we had to coordinate the loans from 30 collectors for 100 works, 17 just for the 23 paintings from private collections.” Two of these masterpieces came directly from the rooms of the Monaco Palace at the Rocher.
Also a way to wink at American tourism, which has returned to Monte Carlo in style after the Corona lockdown. There are also Japanese, Middle Easterners, English and always many Italians.