Monet: The Early Years

I went and saw the show Monet: The Early Years at the Legion of Honor the other day. I don't think of myself as an enormous Monet fan but there was something about this work that I really liked. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it seemed somehow cheerful. You kind of want to just sneak inside all the paintings and go live there. Then a bit of wall text, beside the painting above, of Monet's infant son, caught my eye--it described this particular painting as one of Monet's "most joyful." Joyful! That was the word! That was the feeling these canvases, as a whole, were exuding to me. Joy, both at the thing seen, and the act of painting it. Take a look and see if you agree...