Taking 55 gilt-framed masterworks from a hallowed repository of Western civilization and displaying them in a shopping mall seems like an utterly Shanghai thing to do. It's a move that will likely raise a few conservative eyebrows, but unorthodox environs aside Master of Impression: Claude Monet is not to be missed. The entire exhibit is on loan from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. Their unrivaled Monet collection was actually bequeathed to them by the artist’s youngest son, Michel, who was killed in a car crash in 1966. A maker first and foremost – and a prolific one at that – Monet was also a patron of the arts and before his death in 1926 snapped up a bunch of paintings by friends and influencers like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte and Johan Barthold Jongkind. The Shanghai show includes 12 such pieces with varying degrees of relevance, the stars of the selection being a pair of portraits depicting Monet and first wife Camille, both by Renoir. Spread across two galleries, the exhibition charts Monet’s lengthy career, kicking things off with the artist’s humble beginnings as a caricaturist while a student in Le Havre. Compared to his later better-known works, they’re a revelation. Pointed and precise, they include an 1858 sketch of journalist Theodore Pelloquet, complete with a monstrously bulbous forehead, hooked nose and trotter-like feet. On the Beach, Eugène Boudin From there, things wind round to a section titled ‘Voyages’. As the name suggests, they plot Monet’s many trips and travels around his native France, as well as Norway and England. Included here are examples of painting en plein air, a pioneering approach of the time that saw artists forgo studios and artifice for the great outdoors. To that end, you’ve got Cliffs and the Porte d’Amont, Morning Effect. All delicate, salmon-pink rocks reflected in whispery clouds and surrounded by a rolling ocean of yellows, blues and greens, it’s enchanting. It’s the two London works that steal the show, however. Painted in 1902 and 1905 respectively, they cast the UK capital’s notorious industrial-era smog in a surprisingly captivating light. Call us cynical, but the pairing begs the question: how would Monet romanticize the pollution of present-day Shanghai? Certainly, through London’s haze he managed to tease out ghostly silhouettes, choppy waters and an eerie stillness with suspended light. The reality was likely less beautiful. Rather more sparsely appointed, gallery number two is given over to bigger, blockbuster pieces created in Monet’s later years. By this point, his vision for a garden at Giverny was fully realized, with its icon lily pond and Japanese bridge. London, Parliament, Reflection on the Thames, Claude Monet, 1905 Works in this section have a distinct unfinished quality, as if the by-now elderly artist was trying to commit as much to canvas as humanly possible. The results are quick, thick daubs of paint to capture the constant shifts of nature. Add to that Monet’s steadily diminishing sight – he waited more than a decade before undergoing cataract surgery in 1923 – and the results span spectrums of color, form and shape to stunning effect. Sharing the limelight is the largest of the three Water Lilies paintings on show and a three-meter long work from the Wisteria series. It balances mauve-ish, purply depths with suggestive whispers of brighter tones and is a definite highlight of the exhibition. In a tribute to the Musée de l’Orangerie, the permanent home of eight of Monet's Water Lilies, a third in the series graces the exhibition’s final wall. Arguably, it’s the least impressive of the three – near pastel colors and significantly smaller than what’s on show elsewhere – it’s nonetheless a nice touch in an otherwise minimally-designed show. The Beach at Pourville, Sunset, Claude Monet. 1882 All in all, it’s certainly worth a visit, particularly if you can squeeze in a weekday trip. Even then, crowds aren’t the only annoyance in this otherwise gem of a show. Activated by strategically-placed sensors, the audio guides ‘beep’ periodically which, given the throngs, makes the place sound a bit like a supermarket checkout. Add to that the raised voices of a remarkably patient army of volunteers and guards constantly reminding persistently snap-happy visitors not to take photos, and the experience becomes less than relaxing. Once you’re out the other end, the exhibition shop throws up more than a few on-message treats. They include ridiculously pretty hats and hair bands by Chiquitita and hanging ‘gardens’ from EcoG. There’s the expected posters, a replica of Monet’s pipe (yours for 3,800rmb) and also loads of lovely – albeit pricey – artsy coffee table books. Claude Monet Reading, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1872 Master of Impressionism: Claude Monet continues through 15 June, and for details click here.