No blog posts for the last few weeks as I've been away from the computer on my annual holiday in France, which included a day at the Monet show at the Grand Palais, Paris. What is the point of these shows you might ask. We've all seen Monet's work hundreds of times, so is there anything for the professional painter to learn at these blockbuster events? Absolutely. For a start Monet is a true colourist, and I now realise a most subtle colourist - comparing two of his motif works (grainstacks, rouen etc) is both a joy and an education in the use of applied colour theory. Print them on a four colour press and the subtle diferences just disappear - you'll find the official catalogue disapointing for just this reason. Next, even a wonderful gallery such as the National in London, has only got a few Monet canvases; even the Mussee D'Orsay has about 50 or 60 (judging by the 47 it lent to the show). When you consider that these could be from any of this painters very varied decades of working, it takes a big show to cover a painter of Monet's magintude in any depth. With about 200 canvases the Monet show did this beautifully, from his early but stolid, barbazon period through to the waterlillies everything was there; only in a show like this can one trace the artists progress. Some of his white elephants were there too, lacklustre still life, an overambitious dejeuner sur l'herbe, a badly chosen (but doggedly repeated) motif of a stream with irredemably poor composition and a field of turkeys inspired by Hiroshige or Hokkusai's prints with harsh, graphic cropping. None of these were as fine as his more famous work, but it's reasurring to know that we all loose sight of the big picture from time to time. The only problem? Monet doesn't print, so to get the best from the show you'll need to spend a day annonating your catalog before the memory of his colours fade or - fate worse than death - spend more time in Paris:-)