While Monet's Water Lilies have long been regarded as a prime example of abstract painting, the artist's use of blurring in these aquatic scenes has not been fully explored. Whereas Monet's contemporaries attributed the blurred aesthetic to the artist's visual impairment, many today consider it a deliberate artistic choice. The Musee de l'Orangerie's spring exhibition, Out of Focus, another vision of art from 1945 to the present day, focuses on blurring as a key to understanding not just Monet’s work, but a broader shift in modern and contemporary art.

Once defined narrowly as a loss of clarity, blurring has proven a powerful means of expression in a world dominated by instability and increasingly clouded visibility. After World War II, artists began to move away from precise naturalistic representations of reality towards the indeterminate, allusive subjects.

These aesthetic choices became a way for artists to capture the confusion and uncertainty engendered by periods of great upheaval while freeing viewers to arrive at their own interpretations of the art. The works collected in Out of Focus to strike a balance between instability and beauty, and challenge traditional views of artistic clarity.

Please join us for an exclusive tour of Out of Focus on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at 9:30 a.m.

This event is open to all AFMO members.

All invitations are personal and non-transferable.

Hans Hartung. T1982-H31, 1982. Antibes, Fondation Hartung-Bergman. ©Hans Hartung / Adagp, Paris 2024