French art historians spent four years tracking down the startling collection of work by contemporaries including Renoir, Cezanne, Pissarro and Delacroix that Monet secretly bought. "Monet didn't speak about his private life and kept his art collection just as private," she added. Monet began building his collection when he was still on the breadline with gifts from other painter friends like Renoir and Manet. Poignantly, Monet kept a Renoir picture of her with their son to his own dying day. In fact, Monet kept four watercolours by Signac until his death.

Source: The Local September 14, 2017 13:52 UTC