Who modeled for Claude Monet’s painting Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son?

Camille Monet and Jean Monet modeled for Claude Monet’s Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son.

The painting, made in 1875, shows Monet’s first wife, Camille, standing on a hillside with their young son Jean below her. Monet used a low viewpoint, so Camille’s figure rises against the sky while her son appears farther away in the grass.

The work is admired for its sense of movement, bright summer atmosphere, and rapidly painted brushwork. The wind lifts Camille’s veil and dress, while the angled parasol helps organize the composition.

The title identifies both the mother and child, which prevents a common mix-up with Monet’s other figure paintings. Camille died in 1879. Jean, born in 1867, was Monet’s elder son; a second son, Michel, was born in 1878.