亡き妻への追憶か？それとも・・・A Remembrance of His Late Wife? Or Perhaps…

モネ「日傘をさす女」３部作の謎

今日から印象派の旗手、モネにまつわる映画「モネと時間旅行」（原題　「La Venue de l’avnir」2026年　フランス）が封切られる。モネの１枚の肖像画を軸に遺産相続の物語が展開するようだ。モネといえば、連作「睡蓮」があまりにも有名で風景画家としてのイメージが一般的だが、活動初期には人物画も描いている。「日傘をさす女」「ラ・ジャポネーゼ」「舟遊び」などは題名を知らなくても一度は作品を目にした方も多いだろう。

モネは「睡蓮」「積みわら」など同じモチーフを繰り返し描き続け、やがて印象派と呼ばれるようになるわけだが、実は「日傘をさす女」にも下記のように３枚のバリエーションがあることをご存じだろうか？
①「散歩　日傘をさす女性」1875年　　②「日傘の女」（左向き）1886年　　③「日傘の女」（右向き）1886年
①は先妻カミーユと長男ジャンが描かれており、家族の日常の幸福が伝わってくるような明るい雰囲気の作品である。一方、②③は、女性のみが描かれており、モデルは後妻アリスの娘（連れ子）ジョサンヌ・オシュデである。①は日傘の下で微笑むかのようなカミーユの表情が見て取れるが、②、③ではジョサンヌの顔は、はっきりとは描かれていない。

ここで、一つの疑問が湧いてくる。一体、この違いは何故だろうか？
亡き妻への忖度、いや追憶がそうさせたのだろうか？それとも光の表現を追い求めていた当時のモネの心境を表しているのだろうか？
②、③を制作した1886年といえば、ブルターニュ地方に長く滞在して荒々しい海や岩礁の連作に取り組んだ頃である。後に印象派の特徴となる光の輝きの変化や動きへの探究心が窺える時期でもある。

②、③でジュサンヌの顔をはっきり描かなかった理由は諸説あるが、同時期の他の作品から考えると私には個人が特定できるように顔を描くのではなく、当時のモネは人物を風景の一部として捉え始めた印象派画家としての萌芽期だったかのではないかと思えてくる。もちろん、カミーユの面影を偲んでと解釈するほうが遙かにロマンチックではあるのだが。

The Mystery of Monet’s Three Versions of Woman with a Parasol

A film about the great Impressionist painter Claude Monet, Monet and the Time Traveler (original French title: La Venue de l’avenir, France, 2026), has released today. The story apparently revolves around an inheritance dispute centered on one of Monet’s paintings.

When we think of Monet, his famous Water Lilies series immediately comes to mind, and he is generally remembered as a landscape painter. However, early in his career, he also painted a number of portraits and figure paintings. Works such as Woman with a Parasol, La Japonaise, and The Boating Party are probably familiar to many people, even if they do not know their titles.

Monet repeatedly painted the same motifs, such as Water Lilies and Haystacks, exploring their changing appearance under different light and atmospheric conditions. This approach would eventually become one of the hallmarks of Impressionism. But did you know that there are actually three variations of Woman with a Parasol, as shown below?

① Promenade: Woman with a Parasol (1875)
② Woman with a Parasol, Facing Left (1886)
③ Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right (1886)

In ①, Monet depicted his first wife, Camille, and their eldest son, Jean. The painting has a bright, cheerful atmosphere that seems to convey the happiness of everyday family life.

In contrast, ② and ③ feature only a woman. The model was Alice Hoschedé’s daughter, Suzanne Hoschedé, who later became Monet’s stepdaughter. In ①, Camille’s face can be seen beneath the parasol, with an expression that almost seems to suggest a gentle smile. In ② and ③, however, Suzanne’s face is not depicted in clear detail.

This raises an intriguing question:

Why did Monet depict the figures so differently?

Was it perhaps out of consideration for the memory of his late wife—or, rather, out of a desire to remember her? Or might the difference reflect Monet’s state of mind at the time, as he was increasingly preoccupied with capturing the effects of light?

In 1886, when Monet painted ② and ③, he spent an extended period in Brittany, working on a series of paintings depicting its rugged coastline, rough seas, and rocky shores. It was also a period when we can sense his growing fascination with the changing brilliance and movement of light—an exploration that would later become a defining characteristic of Impressionism.

There are several theories as to why Monet did not depict Suzanne’s face clearly in ② and ③. But when I consider these works alongside his other paintings from the same period, I find myself wondering whether Monet was entering an early stage in his development as an Impressionist painter, in which he was beginning to see the human figure not as an individually identifiable person, but rather as part of the landscape.

Of course, interpreting the paintings as an expression of Monet’s longing for the memory of Camille would be far more romantic.