Provenance
Purchased December 1873 from the artist by (Durand-Ruel, Paris). Baroux Collection. (Durand-Ruel, Paris), in 1896; Pierre Durand-Ruel [d. 1961] from 1941; his widow, later Mrs. David O. Selznick, New York.[1] (Sam Salz, New York), in 1965. Mr. and Mrs. Konrad H. Matthaei, c. 1966. (Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York); sold 1970 to Mr. and Mrs. Philip J. Levin, New York;[2] gift (partial and promised) 1991 to NGA, gift completed 2001.
[1] Provenance according to Wildenstein 1974 catalogue raisonné, volume 1, no. 286. Additional information provided from the Durand-Ruel archives, courtesy of the National Gallery, London (email dated 1 December 2014 in NGA curatorial files).
[2] According to Janice Levin, quoted in _The Washington Post_, 21 March 1991 (copy in NGA curatorial files).
Accession Number
1991.27.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 61 x 82.5 cm (24 x 32 1/2 in.) | framed: 94.6 x 114.3 x 8.8 cm (37 1/4 x 45 x 3 7/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Janice H. Levin, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas French
Background & Context
Background Story
The Artist's Garden in Argenteuil (A Corner of the Garden with Dahlias) (1873) depicts the cultivated landscape that surrounded Monet's home during his most productive period. This painting reveals the domestic dimension of Monet's Impressionism: the garden he created at Argenteuil was not merely a subject but a living laboratory where he could study color, light, and the visual effects of cultivated nature at close range. The dahlias of the subtitle—large, brightly colored flowers that bloom in late summer and autumn—provided Monet with chromatic subjects that challenged his palette and demonstrated his ability to render brilliant natural color. The year 1873 was pivotal: the first Impressionist exhibition was only a year away, and Monet was painting with the confidence of an artist who had found his method. His garden provided subjects that combined still-life precision (individual flowers rendered with botanical accuracy) with landscape breadth (the garden's spatial arrangement, its relationship to the house and surrounding landscape). The painting's emphasis on cultivated nature—flowers planted and arranged by the artist himself—distinguishes it from the wilder landscapes Monet also painted, revealing his interest in the intersection of nature and human intention that would culminate in the garden at Giverny.
Cultural Impact
Monet's garden paintings influenced how cultivated landscapes were represented in Impressionist art, establishing the artist's garden as a distinct genre that combined still-life, landscape, and autobiographical elements. The paintings influenced later garden painters from the Nabis to contemporary artists who similarly found subjects in their own cultivated spaces. The dahlias subject influenced how flower painting was understood within Impressionism, expanding the genre beyond conventional botanical illustration.
Why It Matters
This painting matters because it reveals the origins of Monet's lifelong engagement with gardens—the domestic creation of landscape beauty that would culminate in the water garden at Giverny. The dahlias at Argenteuil are the ancestors of the water lilies: both represent Monet's conviction that the artist's cultivated environment is as valid a subject as untouched nature, and that the garden provides a controlled laboratory for studying light and color.
