Michel Monet (1878-1966) was the second son of Claude Monet and Camille Doncieux. When Claude Monet died on 5 December 1926, he inherited his father's property in Giverny and Claude Monet's extensive collection of paintings and Japanese prints. A passionate traveller, hunter and motorist, he spent an important part of his life on safari in Africa.
On his way back, as he did every week, from the Giverny cemetery where his wife Gabrielle Bonaventure (1890-1964) is buried, Michel Monet died in a car accident on the Clemenceau bridge in Vernon on 3 February 1966.
Without an heir, he had made the Académie des beaux-arts his universal legatee. In this capacity, the Academy defends Claude Monet's moral rights, owns la Maison et les jardins de Claude Monet in Giverny, and manages Michel Monet's extraordinary art collection, which includes paintings by his father as well as works by Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Berthe Morisot, Sisley, Caillebotte, which are now on display at the Musée Marmottan Monet.
