![]() ![]() When he was twenty-two, Monet joined the Paris studio of the academic history painter Charles Gleyre. Raised in Normandy, Monet was introduced to plein-air painting by Eugène Boudin ( 2003.20.2), known for paintings of the resorts that dotted the region’s Channel coast, and subsequently studied informally with the Dutch landscapist Johan Jongkind (1819–1891). He led the way to twentieth-century modernism by developing a unique style that strove to capture on canvas the very act of perceiving nature. ![]() Throughout his long career, Monet consistently depicted the landscape and leisure activities of Paris and its environs as well as the Normandy coast. This is a painting from the 1890s, and it seems to me to anticipate the work of the 20th century.Claude Monet was a key figure in the Impressionist movement that transformed French painting in the second half of the nineteenth century. Steven: I guess what I find astonishing is the intensity of the abstraction. Of a moment in time that exists only very briefly. Beth: What I find lovely about these late series paintings is a sense of poignancy, Represent the momentary that have been built up over time. In fact, of Monet's series in general, think about his haystacks, his images of RouenĬathedral, the water lilies, these are paintings that Not only of this canvas of the poplars, but of the entire series. They're paint strokes, but it's the strokes over the strokes, and this is characteristic That he did in a flash, so there's a really interesting conflict between the heavily worked surface and his promise to us that To be able to paint it, over a considerable amount of time, and make sure the scene remains that way. Because he's painting such a short moment of the light, he has ![]() He wants to paint something out in nature, things happen, and he Beth: That's also reallyĬharacteristic of Monet. Man who had bought them to hold off until the fall, so he could finish his series. Man, who owned this land, had actually sold these Had begun the series, he found out that the View, in particular, appealed to him with that lovely arabesque that you referred to. He found very beautiful, and I can see why this River, and finding views of these poplar trees that Interesting to think about him, on his boat in the Beth: They're pink, Beth: Their reflections are pink, and trees are not pink, but, on this windy autumn day, with bright sunlight, that's how they appeared to Monet. Whiplash of the canopy of the trees in the background that have become soĪbstract, it takes a moment for us to recognize what they really are. They raise up, but theirĬanopies are hidden from us above the frame, and below it we see the ground, with its own reflection, and the poplars reflected below that. Steven: You have these 3 elegant poplars. Instead of trees, meadow, river, sky, these became shapes and colors. That interested Monet from the very beginning of his career, the optical experienceĪt any given moment, and being incredibly attuned to it, working to forget what he knew. That would shift radicallyĪs the day progressed. Instead, the atmosphereĪnd the sun's light contributed to the form before him. He knew of the poplar, the specificity of its leaf, In the paintings of Rouen, in the paintings of the haystacks, in the poplar series, Monet would paint on a series of canvasesĪs the effects of light would change as the sun Beth: The rowboat was fitted especially with slats in the bottom so that he could bring manyĬanvases along with him. Specific effects of light and, especially in the early 90s, when he was working on his haystacks and on this poplar series. Steven: This really speaks to Monet's hypersensitivity to Beth: This meant that he had to return, day after day, to catch (piano music playing) Steven: According to a friend, Monet sometimes only had 7 minutes to work on a single canvas before the light changed too much and the effect that he ![]()
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