This week we started our second term of the 2023-2024 school year. Following the Ambleside Online artist rotation, this term we will be studying six paintings by the famous Impressionist Claude Monet — which reminded me of two news stories that Andrew sent me recently.

The first, an Oct 30, 2023 article on CNN.com, tells that a Monet painting that had been hidden from the public eye in the same family collection for 50 years was headed to auction. “Le bassin aux nymphéas” (“Water lily pond”), part of his famous series, was expected to fetch $65 million. According to Christie’s a Monet that had never been exhibited or sold was a rare find. (Turns out it sold for $74 million.)

Even more interesting was this story from the Guardian. As part of Australia’s new national cultural policy, an initiative called Sharing the National Collection funds the costs of transporting artwork to small museums around the country so they can be enjoyed by more people. For example, “Meules, milieu du jour” (“Haystacks, midday”) from another famous series of paintings by Claude Monet was delivered to the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre, “a tiny gallery in a paddock, 7km from a smallish country town.” I like the sentiment expressed by Alison Kubler, a member of the Narional Gallery of Australia council: “The work belongs to the National Gallery of Australia, which means it belongs to you,” she says. “This collection belongs to all Australians – it is yours, unequivocally.”

(The featured image was taken at the gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, France.)