Events › Art Talk: Monet and Venice

Join art docent Alfred Escoffier to hear about the amazing exhibit Monet and Venice, showing at thede Young in San Francisco March 21—July 26, 2026. 

Although Claude Monet visited Venice only once, his paintings of the city are among his most dazzling. This exhibition, co-organized with the Brooklyn Museum, is the first dedicated to Monet’s Venetian cityscapes since their debut over a century ago. Featuring more than 100 artworks, the exhibition places Monet’s Venice paintings alongside select works from across his career, including his Water Lilies, as well as Venetian views by artists such as Renoir, Sargent, and Canaletto. Unlike the bustling scenes painted by other artists, Monet’s Venice is eerily deserted, its architecture, buildings, and canals dissolving in an encompassing, hazy light he described as the enveloppe. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience Monet’s vision of the famed Italian city.

Alfred was a graduate of the 2011 Docent class at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where he gives tours to children and adults at both the Legion of Honor and the de Young. He earned his AB at Stanford in Art History and is pleased to be using his art history in his volunteer work. Alfred was the library director of the Burlingame Public Library for nearly 20 years. He lives in Sonoma with his partner and a labradoodle named Sylvie.

Sponsored by Friends of the Bolinas Stinson Library.

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