In the centenary year of Claude Monet’s death, 2026, Bloodaxe will publish Helen Farish’s fifth collection, Monet’s Broom, a book-length sequence which explores the life and work of this extraordinary artist who was still, in his ninth decade, posing searching questions of what a painting could be.
The inspiration for the collection is wide-ranging, drawing on letters, photographs and biographies, as well as the art itself, and asks what it means to lead a creative life.
‘Monet’s Broom’
If he’d had students, he’d have said
always have a broom to hand
to sweep out all the readymade images
of your subject which come to mind;
he’d have said this is the hardest part,
harder than putting paint on canvas.
He’d have said the broom’s handle
should become smooth from use
and the day you think you don’t need it
is the day memory has won.
Look at the results of his encounter
with that iris – he’s eighty-four
and it’s as though
he’s never seen one before.