Self Portrait with a Beret, 1886 by Claude Monet

In March 1883, Durand Ruel organized a one-man show for Claude Monet, exhibiting many of his recent coastal scenes. At first, the show was poorly received, but later opinions turned with the critic Armand Silvestre claiming it a triumph. The following month Monet moved his extended family to Giverny, where he would spend the rest of his life.

Monet converted an old barn at his new house into a studio and it quickly became a place for visitors including the poet and critic Stephane Mallarme (1842-98). Between 1883 and 1886 Monet traveled extensively, to the Mediterranean with Renoir and to the beautiful town of Bordighera, which he revisited, and frequently to the Normandy town of Etretat. In the spring of 1886, he spent 10 days painting in Holland. On his return to Giverny, Monet painted his first self-portrait, a rather serious image, but one of astonishing depth and breadth. Although quite a departure from his style and not an approach he took up, the work demonstrates his great draftsmanship and is full of life and vigor.