克勞德·莫內

Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist in May 1884)

Georges Durand-Ruel, Paris (by descent from the above)

Jean D'Alayer de Cotemore d'Arc, France (by descent from the above and until 1952)

Private Collection (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 22, 1993, lot 19)

Acquired at the above sale

Zurich, Kunsthaus; Paris, Galerie des Beaux-Arts & The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Monet, 1952, no. 60

Georges Lecomte, L'art impressioniste, Paris, 1892, illustrated p. 198

Lionello Venturi, Les Archives de l'Impressionisme, Paris, 1939, vol. I, mentioned pp. 279-80 (Monet's letter dated May 30, 1884)

Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Biographie et Catalogue raisonné, Tome II: 1882-1886, Lausanne & Paris, 1979, no. 923, illustrated individually p. 139 and on the door p. 138

Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Cologne, 1996, no. 923, illustrated individually in color p. 345 and in situ on the door p. 343

This vibrant depiction of a branch of lemons once adorned the salon of Monet's legendary dealer Paul Durand-Ruel.  In 1882, Durand-Ruel commissioned Monet to paint a suite of small canvases to be inserted into the double-door panels throughout his home at 35, rue de Rome. The series was devoted to themes of fruits and flowers, and Durand-Ruel hoped that Monet would be inspired enough by the glorious spring weather to commence work. "I am still counting on you to paint my little door panels as soon as you can," Durand Ruel urged the artist in May of 1882. "You can see wonderful flowers and trees at this time of year.  Don't let this precious moment escape." Monet worked on this commission for three years, finding the project more challenging than he had anticipated. In March 1885, he wrote to the dealer, "I've just spent a whole week on your panels. A week of maddening rage, restarting, scratching, puncturing my canvases" (Monet to Durand-Ruel in a letter dated March 14, 1885 quoted in Paul Durand-Ruel and The New Painting: Discovering the Impressionists (exhibition catalogue), Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2015, p.254).  By 1884 he had completed the present composition, which was installed at the bottom-left of one of the double-doors, alongside a pendant composition of a branch of oranges. Durand-Ruel apparently paid for each of the canvases individually, as noted in Monet's letter concerning this work, for which he received 330 francs. Monet treated each of these canvases as a stand-alone work of art, and the present painting, with its abundance of ripe lemons, is one of the most visually appealing of them all.

In the recent exhibition chronicling the relationship between Durand-Ruel and his artists, the following description of the door project is provided: "The set comprised 36 paintings on canvas, of which 30 would be mounted onto five double doors to decorate Paul Durand-Ruel's apartment.  Each door followed the same pattern: the upper section was formed by two large vertical panels; two small horizontal panels lay in the center, and two almost square panels fitted at the bottom.  Each panel was treated as an individual picture" (Discovering the Impressionists, Paul Durand-Ruel and the New Painting, exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2015, p. 254). Most of the works were finally installed in the apartment by 1892 and remained their until 1922, when Georges Durand-Ruel transferred them to his new home on the rue Jouffroy.  This painting remained in the Durand-Ruel family until it was sold in 1993 to the present owner.