Cover slightly faded.

Monet’s famous series paintings--the haystacks, poplars, and Rouen Cathedral that he painted in the 1890s--have long been seen as the supreme realization of his interest in light, color and fleeting moments in time. In this beautiful new book, Paul Hayes Tucker provides a fresh context for these heralded canvases. Drawing on a wide array of sources, from popular broadsides to political speeches, Tucker proposes that Monet’s series paintings were not only an artistic response to the beauties of nature but were also related to contemporary events in France and to Monet’s determination to provide active leadership for his nation’s artistic production.