Ukiyo-e and Monet: 10 iconic themes mirrored in his pieces [part2]

Monet and Ukiyo-e — Comparison No.3: Flowers — A gardener at heart, Monet zoomed in on the blooms in his garden

In 1883, at the age of 43, Monet left Paris and moved to Giverny in Normandy. Surrounded by lush natural beauty, he devoted himself to gardening—planting vibrant flowers in both his “flower garden” and “water garden”, which he tended with great care.
It was here in Giverny that flowers emerged as a central motif in his work—before his famous focus on water lilies.

While flowers had long been depicted in Western painting, they were typically arranged in vases and treated as part of still life, or simply background elements within a landscape.
Monet’s flowers, by contrast, brimmed with vitality and were radically fresh—unlike anything seen in conventional Western art.
Interestingly, his compositions often resemble the traditional kacho ga (花鳥画; ird-and-flower paintings), a genre rooted in Chinese painting and carried on through ukiyo—e. The resemblance between some of these Japanese prints and Monet’s floral works is striking—could this be mere coincidence?

Katsushika Hokusai – kawasemi shaga nadeshiko

Claude Monet – Irises

Monet and Ukiyo-e — Comparison No.4: Women — Their parasols and flowing clothes capture the wind in just the same way!

Monet’s early career saw him producing superb portraits. However, as he shifted towards Impressionism and its focus on light, his main subject gradually became the landscape.
In the mid-1880s, during his forties, Monet briefly returned to figure painting, creating a series of works depicting women outdoors. Among the most iconic are the two paintings of women with parasols featured here. Other works from this period include the Boating series (National Museum of Western Art), showing women aboard small boats.

When reviewing photos of Monet’s dining room in Giverny, one striking discovery emerged—a triptych bijinga (美人画; portrait of beautiful women) depicting women with parasols!
The three types of parasol-bearing women painted by Monet are remarkably similar to the kimono-clad women walking with parasols in ukiyo—e. Perhaps Monet’s fascination with Japanese prints ran even deeper than we had imagined.

Utagawa Yoshitora – Snow viewing at the Sumida river

Claude Monet – Women with parasols

Monet and Ukiyo-e — Comparison No.5: Street Scenes — importing back perspective drawing from Western paintings back to Ukiyo-e prints!?

Monet’s encounter with ukiyo-e likely predates the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris, and it’s believed that he began collecting the prints in earnest during the 1870s.
From his early years as a rising star of modern Western art in the 1860s, it’s clear from many of his works that Monet was already under the influence of ukiyo-e.

In Paris at the time, Hiroshige and Hokusai were particularly popular, especially their landscape prints.
Among Monet’s collection is Hiroshige’s Night View of Saruwaka-machi (猿わか町), from the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo series. Hiroshige’s distinctive interpretation of Western-style perspective clearly inspired Monet—several of his early works show strikingly similar depictions of streetscapes.

Utagawa Hiroshige – Night View of Saruwaka-machi, from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Claude Monet – Rue de la Bavole, Honfleur

This article is translated from https://intojapanwaraku.com/art/265663/