I know very little about "the art world," so I came to Monet: Itinerant of Light as something of a dunce, but I at least knew his name and knew he painted some of those pictures that were sometimes blurry or foggy-looking (my "artsy vocabulary" is obviously limited as well). But this book helped remind me of the little I had heard -- "impressionist" is the word for his style.

This is a graphic novel that covers the earlier (and more difficult) parts of his career, as well as his personal life at the time. I really liked the art -- the end of the novel explains how some of Monet's paintings were portrayed/given tribute to here, none of which I recognized (see the "dunce" comment earlier), but the illustrations were soft and detailed, with realistic facial expressions, and didn't feel "cartoony" to me at all (the way some graphic novels do).

As to the story itself, it's quite fascinating, though equally inspiring and heartbreaking. We see, over and over again, Monet's unwilllingness to compromise on his artistic vision for the sake of the "academics" of the day, and also his drive to be nothing but a painter and to master his craft -- paired with an irresponsibility with money which led to some fairly dire poverty at times. I also felt so bad for Camille, his wife, with the state of women's healthcare in those days (especially for those in poverty).

The framing of the story begins and ends with him as an old man, and so a large portion of his life is simply skimmed over at the end. I'm not an artist so I don't understand the artistic drive, but I still enjoyed reading about such a famous painter of the past, and his contributions to art.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author: Salva Rubio
Illustrator: Efa
Pages: 112
Content Advisory: A couple swear words, some nudes, one "bedroom scene" frame without nudity, and some thematic elements are mentioned/shown including drinking, an affair, abortion, a death, and extreme poverty. I'd give the book a PG-13 rating if it was a movie.

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