This page is intended to provide information and web links about Camille Doncieux, the model, later mistress, later first wife, of Claude Monet. I have been fascinated by her life and death, ever since first seeing the haunting portrait of her that he painted on her death bed, "Camille sur son lit de mort." I do not find that she was particularly attractive, but the more that I have learned about her the more tragic her life and death become. I do not find any web pages focusing on her. So I am starting this meagre effort.
Events in the Life of Camille Doncieux
- 1866 - living with Monet at Sèvres, where he paints "Women in the Garden", in which all four women are Camille
- 1867, August 8 - Birth of son Jean Monet; financial problems lead Claude Monet to leave Camille in Paris while he lives with his Aunt at Ste-Adresse
- 1870, June 28 - Marriage to Claude Monet, with Gustave Courbet as best man
- 1875 - she becomes ill
- 1878 - Birth of son Michel Monet; her health weakens
- 1879, September 5 - Dies at Vétheuil after long illness; burial in lone grave at cemetery of St. Nicholas Church in Vétheuil
Some of the many Paintings of Camille Doncieux
- By Claude Monet
- 1865 - The Walkers [National Gallery of Art, Washington DC]
- 1866 - Camille ou La Robe Verte (Lady in Green) [Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany]
- 1866 - Femmes au jardin (Women in the Garden): all four are Camille!! [Musée d'Orsay, Paris]
- 1868 - On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt [Potter Palmer Collection, Art Institute of Chicago]
- 1873 - Coquelicots (Poppies, near Argenteuil) [Musée d'Orsay, Paris -- another version of the painting is at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art]
- 1875 - The Walk, Lady with a Parasol: facing left [National Gallery of Art, Washington DC] (and here)
- 1875 - La Japonaise [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA]
- 1879, September - Camille sur son lit de mort (Camille on her deathbed) [Musée d'Orsay, Paris] (and here and here)
- By Other than Claude Monet