The Commune and Return

The Franco-Prussian War ended in French defeat in early 1871, but Paris's troubles were not over. The Paris Commune, a revolutionary government, held the city from March to May before being brutally suppressed. During this period, Monet remained in exile, first in London and then in Holland, where he painted tulip fields and windmills, adding new subjects to his repertoire.

When Monet finally returned to France in late 1871, he found a changed nation. The optimism of the Second Empire had given way to the more austere Third Republic. Many of his artist friends were scattered—Bazille dead, Cézanne in Provence, Manet traumatized by his experiences during the siege of Paris. But there was also a sense of new possibilities. The old academic system had been shaken, and there was growing interest in new forms of art.

Monet settled in Argenteuil, a suburban town on the Seine northwest of Paris, which offered cheaper rents and river scenes to paint. Here he entered one of his most productive periods, creating the works that would define classic Impressionism—paintings of his garden, the Seine with its pleasure boats and railway bridge, Camille and Jean in sunlit interiors.