Claude Monet — Exhibition Invitation, Galerie Art Vivant, Paris, 1959

CLAUDE MONET
Le Naturalisme Abstrait
Galerie Art Vivant, Paris
18 June 1959

Original invitation to Claude Monet et Le Naturalisme Abstrait, a bold curatorial proposition staged at Galerie Art Vivant in June 1959. The exhibition reframed Monet's late work not as historical artifact but as visionary precursor to postwar abstraction — placing him in direct lineage with Turner, Géricault, and the emerging generation of painters working through colour, light, and metaphysical depth.

The fold-out invitation includes an essay by Waldemar-George drawing these connections across time, arguing for Monet as the tutelary god of a painting that restores soul to a soulless century. Alongside Monet, the exhibition presented works by André Masson, Marie Raymond, Jean-Paul Vulliamy, Bryen, Garbell, Halpern, Lan-Bar, and Szenès — a gathering that underscored his influence on mid-century spiritual formalism and the Parisian lyrical abstraction of the period.

Printed on pale mint-green card stock with elegant letterpress typography, the object itself reflects the refined material culture of the 1950s Paris art world. A rare document from a moment when abstraction looked backward in order to move forward.

Format: Fold-out invitation card
Language: French
Condition: Good