The Chef (Le Père Paul)

Künstler*in Claude Monet (1840 Paris – 1926 Giverny)

Object typePainting
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
64,5 × 52,1 cm
SignatureSign. rechts oben: Claude Monet 82
Inventory number540
Locations Belvedere, Upper Belvedere, 1. Floor (east), Room NO2
The light! The colors! Impressionist paintings seem to radiate light from within. Nuances of pink, blue, and green are juxtaposed. Close up, all one initially notices are dabs of paint. Only from the right distance do the chef’s hat and jacket, illuminated passages and shadows take shape. Like all Impressionists, Monet is not interested in neatly depicting real objects but rather in the fleeting perception of optical phenomena. The sitter is Paul Antoine Graff. He was a much-lauded chef and the owner of a small hotel in Pourville in northern France, where Monet stayed for several weeks in 1882.

Fishermen on the Seine near Poissy