Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné: Vol. I: 1840-1881. Peintures (1974); Vol. II: 1882-1886. Peintures (1979); Vol. III: 1887-1898. Peintures (1979); Vol. IV: 1899-1926. Peintures (1985); Vol. V: Supplément aux Peintures. Dessins, Pastels, Index (1991). 5-vol. set (Complete)

Lausanne; Paris: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1991. First edition. Hardcover. New in publisher's box and shrink wrap/ As New. Folio (15 1/4 x 11 1/4"). [8], 461, [1]pp (Vol. 1); [4], 305, [1]pp (Vol. 2); [4], 312pp (Vol. 3); [4], 443, [1]pp (Vol. 4); [4], 349, [1]pp (Vol. 5). Original illustrated dust-jackets over blue cloth, with gold lettering to spines and front covers. Pictorial endpapers. Color frontispiece in each volume.

"Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné" retraces in detail the life of one of the founders of French Impressionist painting. It relates the major events in a career filled with remarkable encounters - from the painter Eugène Boudin to the statesman Georges Clemenceau - through successes, turmoil, bereavements and honors. Over 2000 paintings, 500 drawings and 100 pastels, classified chronologically - from his beginnings in the years 1858-1861, to the Nymphéas series - are indexed, commented, analyzed and reproduced. The catalogue is innovative for publishing previously unknown letters from Monet and extracts from other correspondences touching on his life and his work, used to back up several of the facts and events developed in the biography and the entries.

This monumental work is illustrated with 43 full-page color plates, and no less than 2112 b/w photographic reproductions. Text in French throughout.

The first three volumes are as new (the only flaw is a scratch and minor age toning to the slipcase of vol.2). Volumes 4 and 5 are new in the publisher's shrinkwrap.