Tuesday Tea / “Unreal City”: Dreamworld and Class Struggle in Monet’s Paris

Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Claude Monet’s art—and the city of Paris during his formative years—are often framed as serene, timeless icons of cultural heritage. In contrast, the Allen’s exhibition Picturing Paris: Monet and the Modern City reveals the political unrest simmering beneath that surface. In this talk, Assistant Professor of History Nicholas Bujalski examines how the upheavals of 19th-century Paris—revolution, urban transformation, and civil war—not only shaped Monet’s world but left their mark on the emerging Impressionist style, where bourgeois calm meets a city in flux.

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Registration for this free event is encouraged but not required to attend.

Image: Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926), Quai du Louvre, 1867. Oil on canvas. Kunstmuseum den Haag.

Access Statement:
This event will be held in a wheelchair- and rolling walker-accessible building. The lecture space is wheelchair accessible, with moveable seating. Restrooms are gender-specific and wheelchair-accessible. Listening devices and ASL are currently not scheduled for this event. Most talks will be recorded and available with closed captions on the museum’s YouTube page after the event. Please email access questions to Jill Greenwood, jgreenwo@oberlin.edu.