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Monet's Impressionist Works Going Up At Denver Art Museum

DENVER (CBS4) - The Denver Art Museum has put together the most comprehensive exhibition of Monet paintings in the U.S. in the last 25 years. The priceless pieces of art are arriving at the Denver museum, being uncrated, examined, and hung in the exhibit.

"It is one of the most special moments for a curator. You work on images, you work on narratives for so long, but to actually be in the presence of the real thing," said Angelica Daneo, Chief Curator and curator of European art before 1900 at the DAM.

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Denver Art Museum staff members hang a Monet painting. (credit CBS)

Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature brings together 124 original Monet works from across his career. The paintings come from 70 different lenders, in 15 countries. The show draws from a mix of public and private collections.

PHOTOS: Monet's Impressionist Works Now On Display At Denver Art Museum

"We follow his career as he moved from one place to another looking to be challenged, by different landscapes, and different moods of nature," Daneo explained.

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Villas at Bordighera by Claude Monet (credit CBS)

The show tracks the artists traditional beginning doing French landscapes, how he developed his impressionist technique, and moved from landscapes to figures.

"What is so special about getting to curate this Monet exhibition?" CBS4's Lauren Whitney asked Daneo.

"Well this is such an opportunity because with paintings by Monet, they really tend to unveil the more you look at them. This is really a great privilege that I have to be able to spend so much time with them," Daneo replied. "There's a lot of talk about spontaneity with impressionism, but actually I think the more you look at the composition, you appreciate the thought that Monet put into them and the attention to every element."

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Chief Curator Angelica Daneo with CBS4's Lauren Whitney. (credit CBS)

Daneo gave Whitney a sneak peek at the beginning part of the show, some of Monet's earlier works. Among the collection, The Pointe de La Heve at Low Tide a piece that Monet created in 1865 for submission to a Paris salon. The French government would sponsor large art exhibits as a way to promote the artists within its midst.

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The Pointe de La Heve at Low Tide by Claude Monet. (credit CBS)

"He creates this sort of path in the sand that leads, sort of, winds inside, and leads your eye inside the composition, and very conveniently, right in the center where the sky is opening. So you see the thought behind this composition, the planning," Daneo said of the painting.

LINK: For Tickets & Information to Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature

Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature opens October 21, 2019 and runs through February 2, 2020 at the Denver Art Museum.

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