Blanche Hoschedé-Monet: A Lesser Known Monet!

Blanche Hoschedé-Monet - Haystack, Effect of Snow - 1890-91 - Oil on canvas, 46 x 62 cm - Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny. (click photo for larger image)French painter, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet (1865-1947) was the second daughter of Ernest and Alice Hoschedé, and both the step daughter and the daughter-in law of Claude Monet. Ernest was a businessman but also an art collector of Impressionist paintings. The family settled in Giverny in 1883, Ernest died in 1891. Blanche spent long hours in the ateliers of both Claude Monet and Édouard Manet. Blanche became Monet's assistant and pupil and all of her work was done en plein air. She married Claude Monet's son, Jean, in 1897. They lived in Rouen and Beaumont-le-Roger until 1913. When her husband died in 1914, she moved back to Giverny with Claude Monet. Most of her works were done in Giverny and around Rouen. She painted in Giverny from 1883 to 1897 and then from 1926 to 1947. She adopted an almost pure form of Impressionism. At times it was difficult to distinguish her work from Monet's especially during her first period in Giverny.