The color of death ...

... and The Art of Grief - Obit Magazine.

After a long illness, probably uterine cancer, Camille succumbed on Sept. 5, 1879, and at her side Monet painted his grief. He wrote Georges Clemenceau, later the eminent French statesman and a dear friend, that “finding myself at the deathbed of a loved one, I was surprised … by the colors that death brought to her immobile face.” The changing tones of blue, yellow, and gray mesmerized him. Reacting instinctively, he “found himself desiring to reproduce the last image of she who would leave us forever.” He used long, rapid brushstrokes and subdued colors.