AS FAR as we know, the French painter Claude Monet has no local connections, but his exhibition, Monet & the Impressionists, at the Art Gallery of NSW certainly has.
Loftus resident Belinda Hanrahan, the gallery's marketing director, had a lot to do with bringing the exhibition to public attention.
She and her team are responsible for the 350 vibrant pink flags decorating Sydney's CBD and the large banners depicting Monet's waterlilies and haystacks.
One of the finest exhibitions of impressionist art ever held in Australia, Monet & the Impressionists will run until January 26.
It includes 29 works by Monet and works by Renoir, Pissarro, Cezanne, Degas and Sisley.
Most of the paintings come from the
permanent collection of the Museum
of Fine Arts, in Boston, which has one of the finest collections of Monet in the world.
The impressionists brought landscape painting to new prominence during the second half of the 19thcentury.
During the 1890s, Monet attained great success when he began to exhibit his famous series, astounding the Parisian public through his ability to register the changes of colour and light.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the surviving members of the impressionist group had taken very different directions in their work.
After that, there was little that they visibly shared in common.
Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney.