Camille Monet at the Window, Argentuile 1873

Claude Monet painted this oil on canvas of his wife, Camille, at their home in Argenteuil, sometime in the 1870s. Here, the artist places his wife in the domestic sphere looking out from an open window, framed by an abundance of flowers. Monet was part of a group of artists in France who, by this time, had begun to reject the academic painting styles favored by institutions like the École des Beaux-Arts. Instead, they wanted to reflect modern life and the rapidly changing urban and suburban landscapes around them. In his depiction of Camille at the window, Monet references a well-established tradition in Western art, but also, perhaps, subtly critiques it. While the woman at the window has often been depicted as an object of desire, here, Camille seems self-contained, gazing outwards at the world from her private space. Art historians use letters, diaries, and exhibition reviews to better understand the social and institutional contexts in which art is made, exhibited, and interpreted.