Portrait of Jeanne Serveau 1880

This is Claude Monet's "Portrait of Jeanne Serveau," painted around 1880. Here we see the artist turning his hand to the traditional genre of portraiture, but with a distinctly modern approach. Monet was part of a generation of artists in France who sought to challenge the established academic style and the institutions that promoted it. These impressionist painters were concerned with capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere, a break from the highly finished and idealized portraits favored by the Parisian Salon. The loose brushstrokes and soft focus that Monet employs here were considered radical at the time. By focusing on the transient qualities of light and color, Monet challenged the established conventions of portraiture and, more broadly, the social and institutional norms that shaped artistic production in 19th-century France. Art historians can explore exhibition records, critical reviews, and artists' correspondence to gain a deeper understanding of this shift in artistic values.