Claude Monet (moh-NA Y)

1840-1926French Impressionist Painter

laude Monet was the French artist whose worksdefined the “Impressionist” movement in the last

half of the 19th century. The Impressionist artists paintedin “plein air” (in the open air) and concentrated on cap-turing the “impression” of a scene. They focused on thee ffects of l ight and atmosphere using bright, pure colorsapplied in loose brushstrokes. The public initially reject-ed this revolutionary approach and critics consideredtheir works unfinished, call ing them “mere impressionsand sketches.”

Monet developed the Impressionist technique to itsmost complete form. He remained loyal through hisentire career to the goal of capturing the transitorye ffects of nature through direct observation. He depart-ed f rom tradition by painting directly onto the canvas atthe scene, using patches of pure color placed sided byside to build his shapes. Rather than mixing the purecolors on a palette, Monet’s technique was one of opti-cal color mixing, letting the viewer’s eye fuse the col-ors visually. His most enduring works were paintingsdone in series, depicting the same subject under vari-ous conditions and at different times of the day.

Even though the Impressionist group began to dis-solve in the mid-1880s, Monet continued to be loyalto the movement, painting up until his death in 1926.In its short existence, the Impressionists accom-plished a revolution in the history of Western art thatfreed later artists such as Paul Cezanne, Paul Gaugin,Vincent van Gogh and George Seurat from traditionalpainting techniques.

Vocabulary

I m p re s s i o n i s m—An art movement begun in the1860s in Paris by a group of artists who rejected tra-ditional methods and subject matter. They recordedeveryday life in fleeting “impressions,” painted out-of-doors, and concentrated especially on light and itseffects on color.

Motif —The main element, idea or feature of a workof art.

P l e i n - a i r P a i n t i n g—Painting in the “ open air, ”directly out of doors.

E n v e l o p p e— M o n e t ’s term for the atmosphericsheath of colored light in which a scene is bathed atany given moment; the consistent overall light spread-ing everywhere throughout a painting.

Art Elements

Color—Color has three properties: hue, value, andintensity. There are two types of hues: primary (red,blue and yellow) and secondary (green, purple andorange). Colors can be warm (red, yellow and orange)and appear to advance in a painting, or cool (green,blue and purple) and seem to recede in a painting.Complementary colors are those opposite each otheron the color wheel. Monet painted colors of objects asthey appeared in natural light. He used bright dabs orpatches of color to reflect the effects of sunlight, andcreated shadows by using complementary colorsinstead of gray or black.

Shape—Shape is an area that is contained within animplied line, or is seen because of color or valuechanges. Shapes can be geometric or organic. Monetused color instead of line to create his shapes, whichwere suggested only by their most prominent features.He repeated shapes within a painting and of tenabstracted his organic shapes into simple silhouettesor geometric shapes.

Art Principles

R e p e t i t i o n—Repetition occurs when an element(color, shape, line, value, space, texture) appears morethan once in an artwork. When the repeating elementsare identical or very similar, a rhythm is establishedand the viewer’s eye moves from one to another. If thespaces between repeating elements are about even, aregular rhythm is established; if they are uneven, therhythm is irregular. Monet repeated themes andmotifs throughout his work. He repeated a singlemotif in varying colors in his series paintings.Shapes are repeated in his many works, particularlythose which contain reflections on water.

Unity—Visual unity is one of the most importantaspects of well-designed art and is planned by the artist.Unity provides the cohesive quality that makes thework feel complete and finished. A similar overall sur-face treatment creates a strong sense of unity in a work.Overall intense colors and repeated shapes also createu n i t y. A dominant color, repeated textures and consis-tent paint application create unity. Monet used all ofthese techniques in his paintings.

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laude Monet was born in Paris, France, onNovember 14, 1840. His father had a small store

in a working class neighborhood, but when Claudewas five years old, the family moved to LeHavre, abustling seaport on the north coast of France.

Monet did not like school and never did well in hisstudies. He spent much of his time drawing carica-tures in his books. At around age 15, he quit schooland expressed the intention of becoming a painter. Hisearly sketch books reflected an interest in landscapes,but his reputation for caricatures enabled him to dis-play some of them in the shop window of a localframe-maker, Monsieur Gravier. Gravier also dis-played paintings by his friend, Eugene Boudin, whowas a landscape painter. Boudin was impressed byMonet’s talent and introduced himself, inviting Monetto accompany him to paint “plein-air” (out of doors).Monet later admitted that his meeting with Boudinhad been a key event in his life, saying, “It was as if aveil suddenly lifted from my eyes and I knew that Icould be a painter.”

When he was eighteen, Monet went to Paris to studyart. His father approved of the move on one condition:he was to enroll in the École des Beaux Arts to receivea high quality education. His application for a grantwas turned down, however, and Monet enrolled in theless-structured Académie Suisse. The Académie pro-vided models, but no instruction, assuming that thestudents would learn from each other. Here he met afellow student, Camille Pissarro, who was to becomehis close friend.

After a brief period of military service in North A f r i c athat ended when Monet contracted typhoid, hereturned to LeHavre in 1862 to convalesce and resumehis painting. Following his recovery, Monet enrolledin a traditional studio in Paris under the tutelage ofCharles Gleyre. Gleyre’s studio was slightly morestructured than the Académie Suisse, and it attractedless conventional students. Here Monet met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazil le(who would become his closest friend and frequentsource of financial support). With Pissarro and Degas(who studied elsewhere), this group of men formed thecore of the Impressionist movement. Monet remainedat Gleyre’s studio for approximately two years until itclosed in 1864. Although he received instruction instudio painting and the human form, his enthusiasmfor outdoor painting was not diminished.

This enthusiasm and appreciation of the world out-doors was rewarding, but Monet wanted to make aname for himself; this meant appeasing the tradition-alists of the Académie. Monet followed the expecta-tions placed on serious entries to the Salon and paint-ed several pictures indoors that were very successful.But one piece drew some criticism. Quite the oppositefrom the expected smooth surfaces which were invogue at the time, one of Monet’s entry was “broadlyhandled with a loaded brush, giving a rough surfacetexture and clearly visible brush strokes, and sacrific-ing detail to overall affect.”

Monet persisted in his efforts to appeal to theAcadémie, and from 1865 to 1866 he painted a num-ber of subjects with varying degrees of success. Hisfuture wife, Camille Doncieux, posed for several ofthese painting (they were married in 1870). Despitehis efforts, the Salon rejected his work. Shortly after,Frederick Bazille, his true and supportive friend,agreed to buy one of his paintings, making monthlyinstallment payments upon which the young familyrelied. Monet moved his family to London in Octoberof 1870 to avoid involvement in the Franco-PrussianWar (unfortunately, Bazille enlisted for military serv-ice and was killed in action.)

In London, Monet was part of a large group ofFrenchmen who had emigrated to avoid the war. Itwas here he was introduced to the art dealer, PaulDurand-Ruel, who would become his new source offinancial support. For the next ten years, much ofMonet’s work was handled by Durand-Ruel on spec-ulation, providing an income for the family. Durand-Ruel gambled that as Monet’s reputation grew, sowould the value of his work. Monet later said,“Without him, we would have all starved.”

In 1871, Monet left London and returned to France.He rented a house at Argenteuil on the Seine, about 6miles to the Northwest from Paris, where he andCamille lived for the next six years. During this peri-od, Monet was frequently joined by Renoir and otherfriends from his student days, and together they paint-ed every aspect of life and the world outdoors.Argenteuil was also the center of a new Sunday pas-time—boating. Situated in a deep basin of the Seine,it was the site of regular regattas. Monet bought asmall boat and converted it to a floating studio,enabling him to be enveloped in the light reflectingoff the water. It gave him an unobstructed and undis-

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turbed vantage point from which to paint. His workwas smaller in scale, brighter in color and with lesscontrolled brush strokes, transcribing physical factsinto their pictorial components.

In 1874, Manet, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro,Sisley and Monet put together an exhibition that washung in the studio of the famous photographer, Nadar.This exhibition ran simultaneously with the Salon.Although critical reaction to the show was mixed, mostreviewers felt the efforts of the artists deserved to beencouraged. One of Monet’s contributions to the exhib-it was a painting entitled “ I m p ression: Sunrise;” t h i spainting is largely credited with the naming of theentire movement. Although originally used in a deroga-tory sense, ref lecting the prejudice of the academicpreference against sketching in favor of the fully fin-ished work, the term “Impressionism” came to repre-sent the young artists and their style of painting.

In the winter of 1876-77, Monet embarked on the planof painting a single subject f rom various viewpoints.For this purpose he chose the Gare Saint-Lazare, a rail-way station in Paris that was the hub for trains depart-ing toward A rgenteuil. The constant movement oftrains and passengers offered a view of modern life thatMonet found irresistible, and he received permission towork in and around the station, painting scenes fromd i fferent vantage points. He continued this plan of sin-gle subject painting for much of the rest of his life.

In 1892, Monet began the work that would consume hisfinal years. He began experiments with changing light;he painted not just different aspects of the same loca-tion, as he had done with the Gare Saint-Lazare, but hepainted the same scene repeatedly as the light, seasonsor atmospheric conditions changed. His first series wasof grainstacks around his house in Giverny where hemoved his family in 1883. He also painted other series:poplar trees, Rouen Cathedral, mornings on the Siene,and finally the Thames and Houses of Parliament inLondon. The series works were intended to be exhibit-ed together in “one man, one motif” shows. Hungtogether in a single room, the viewer was forced to lookat the nuances of light and color, and at the small alter-ations of shading, noticing how every aspect of thescene was altered in accordance with changing light.

By the 1890s, Monet became financially secure forthe first time in his life; his paintings were soughtafter by collectors from all over the world. With the

luxury of substantial income, Monet devoted himselfto the decoration of his house and grounds in Giverny.His home was not only his refuge—his gardenbecame a work of art in itself. His elaborate groundsand plantings provided a motif for the painter’s lastimportant works, the “Water Lily” series. These paint-ings showed the vitality and complexity of Monet’sbrush work at its height. Sky, water, and vegetationwere transformed into swirling, vibrant masses ofcolor. Monet was absorbed in this project almostexclusively from 1900 until his death.

Monet began to experience recurrant headaches andvision problems around 1908. He suffered f romcataracts and his eyes were deteriorating, but he con-tinued to paint untreated for another 14 years. He diedon Dec. 5, 1926. In 1980, the house and gardens atGiverny were restored and opened to the public, nowattracting millions of tourists yearly as a tribute toMonet and Impressionism.

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Scanning Slide

Regatta at Argenteuil1872, oil on canvas, 18” x 29-1/2”, Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Art Elements: What you see.Color• Are the colors in this painting warm orcool? (There are both warm and cool colors.)• Where did the artist use warm colors? (The houses, boat sails, and their reflections.) Where did he use

cool colors? (The water, sky and vegetation.)

Shape• Where are there examples of a geometric shape?(Houses, sails.) Where is an organic shape?(Trees.)• Are the shapes detailed orsimplified? (Simplified.)

Art Principles: How the elements are arranged.Repetition• What shapes did Monet repeat? (Houses, sailboats.)• What effect does repetition of shapes have? (It creates a rhythm.)

Unity• How does colorunify this painting? (The colors repeat in both the top and bottom of the painting.)• Would the painting be complete if anything was removed?

Technical Properties: How it is made.• Did the artist use a small orlarge brush or both? Where?• Where do you think Monet was when he painted this work?

Expressive Properties: How it makes you feel.• What feeling do you get when you look at this painting? (Tr y to describe yourfeeling using one word).• What would you be doing in this scene if you were there?

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Claude Monet Scanning Questions

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1. Photo of Monet in his studio1917, photo by Henri Manuel, Musée Marmottan

Monet built this studio at his home in Giverny to accommodate the waterlilies decorationfor the Museé L’Orangerie. The canvases were so large that painting outdoors was not fea-sible. They were placed on wheeled chassis so that he could push them together to createcontinuous stretches of painting that entirely surrounded him.

2. Impression: Sunrise1872, oil on canvas, 19” x 24-3/4”, Musée Marmottan, Paris

This seascape is Monet’s impression of the sunrise over the Le Havre harbor as seen fromhis hotel window. A quickly executed work, it captures an atmospheric moment. It wasentered in the first group of paintings that was rejected by the official French Academy’sSalon in 1874. Giving it the title of “Impression” was unprecedented for a work of art andcaused a critic to coin the word for the group when he exclaimed, “this is nothing but animpression....” Ironically, with its thin muted washes of color, rather than broken patchesof pure color, it is not typical of what became the Impressionist style. However, elementsof Monet’s new style are evident in the subject matter. The red sun on the gray-blue skyreflects on the waves. Monet was fascinated with water and it’s reflective quality through-out his career. It is not the boats and the harbor that are the subjects here, but the red sunand its light path swathed in blue mist. The sun magically transforms the harbor into aspectacle of natural color. The figures are mere silhouettes against the background and hereduces objects to a few brushstrokes. This freer brushwork was not well received by ashocked public who felt the painting was unfinished and sketchy.

3. Bathers at La Grenouillere (“The Frog Pond”)1869, oil on canvas, 28-3/4” x 36”, National Gallery, London

Together with his friend, fellow Impressionist Auguste Renoir, Monet painted this popu-lar gathering place on the Seine River several times. He combines the contemporary sub-ject matter of people at leisure with the fleeting effect of the sunlight on the water. It is agood example of his distinctive style with the individual dashes of bright color paintedrapidly and at the location. It captures the impression of the plein-air setting favored bythe Impressionists. Japanese influences are also evident in the composition (Monet was anavid collector of Japanese woodblock prints). The boats in the foreground are cut off(cropped) to lead the eye into the space, but it is offset by the flattening effect of the wood-en pier, which cuts the painting in half. This was a very typical Japanese device, butunconventional in the West. The broad shapes of light and dark above that line are repeat-ed in the lower half of the painting, giving a flat decorative unity to the composition. Theswimmers on the top are reduced to individual patches of color, as are the ripples of wateron the bottom. These reflections cause repetition of both shapeand color in the compo-sition. Monet continued to be fascinated by reflections throughout his career. This use ofrepeated small dots and dashes of color to depict flickering vibrations of light on watermarked a turning point for Monet and the debut of the Impressionist technique.

Claude Monet Slide List

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Why do you think this paintingwas titled,“Impression”?

What is repeated in this painting?

4. Regatta at Argenteuil1872, oil on canvas, 18” x 29-1/2”, Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Monet lived in Argenteuil, just outside Paris, and frequently painted alongside fellowartists and Impressionists Edouard Manet, Alfred Sisley and Auguste Renoir. The plein-air landscapes of the period between 1872 and 1877 in Argenteuil are some of Monet’sbest-known and popular works. It was during this period that Impressionism most close-ly approached a group style. This painting was painted from his studio boat, anchored onthe Seine River.

In this scene, Monet painted the warm, creamy silhouette of the sails against the cool bluesky, and boldly simplified the shapes. The sailboats cast their long, broken shadowsacross the water. As in the “Bathers at La Grenouillere,” Monet paints the reflectionsusing different shapes and sizes of pure broad horizontal strokes of color. These horizon-tal strokes capture the ripples of the waves on the water’s surface. The interplay of pure,intense cool and warm colors creates a brightness and vibration on the canvas, giving theimpression of bright flickering sunlight. The reflections in the water create r epetition ofcolor and shapes in the lower half of the canvas, unifying it with the top of the painting.

Fun Fact: This same scene as painted by Renoir can be seen at the Portland Art Museum.

5. Gare St. Lazare1877, oil on canvas, 21-1/2” x 29”, National Gallery, London

In the winter of 1876-77, Monet first experimented with repetitions of a single motif fromvarious viewpoints. He chose the St.Lazare train station for this series of 12 paintings. Themotif was a symbol of modernity and therefore a quintessential Impressionist subject.However, Monet’s emphasis was on the dramatic atmospheric effects of the steam andsmoke (forms of Monet’s favorite subject—water), which almost dematerialize the train.The rigid black glass vault, with its static, inverted “v”-shape, provides a perfect frame,as well as a medium for registering changes in light and color on the scene. The samecolor is used for the figures and trains. They appear black; however, Monet actually usedvery little black pigment. He created the effect of black by combining various bright col-ors—blue, green and red.

Monet repeatsshapesthroughout the composition. There is a group of three clouds ofsmoke/steam in the center of the painting. The blue used to depict the cloud of smoke isthe single dominant color, which repeats throughout the composition and thus unifies thepainting. Beneath these clouds are three dark shapes—two locomotives and a cluster offigures surrounding tall lampposts. The combined shapes of the figures and lamppostsmimic the shapes of the trains. On the right are three more dark shapes of arches. This rep-etition of shapes unifies these various areas into a complete whole. Notice how the figuresare not important to Monet and are mere silhouettes of color. This is one of the last timeshe painted figures in his compositions. By the 1880s, figures are no longer present and hechanged focus from contemporary human life to atmospheric changes in nature.

Claude Monet Slide List

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How does colorunify this painting?

What shape doesMonet repeat?

6. Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny1885, oil on canvas, 26” x 32”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

No clear outlines appear in this sunny landscape which Monet painted in “plein air.” TheImpressionists observed that objects seen in strong light lose their definition and appearto blend into one another. This is an excellent example of the Impressionist technique withthe forms and textures suggested entirely by the size, shape, and direction of the brush-strokes. The high horizon draws the eye backward down the river-like pattern of red pop-pies (alluding to water) which creates the impression of symmetrically arranged expans-es of color in the foreground. The path of scarlet dabs of unmixed bright red color is setagainst a sea of complementary green fields. The juxtaposition of these two pure colorscauses the field to vibrate and adds to the feeling of haziness that hangs over the painting.The unfinished details give the impression of the moment and of the heat at the scene.Monet has abstracted the shapesto reflect the atmosphere rather than to represent a spe-cific reality. The overall surface treatment of repeated red dabs and green vertical brush-strokes lends unity to the painting.

Series Paintings

Throughout his career, Monet painted repeated views of the same motif. However, from1890 on, he began working on coherent series paintings that were conceived as a suite tobe exhibited together.Although the idea of a painter showing a related series seems famil-iar today, in Monet’s time it was a totally new concept in Western art. He took his inspi-ration from woodblock print series by Japanese artists, such as Hokusai’s “100 Views ofFuji” and Hiroshige’s “100 Views of Edo.” These series paintings were an importantdeparture for Monet and set the pattern for much of his later career. He directed his ener-gies towards groups of paintings, rather than single canvases.

Monet’s series paintings of the 1890s fall into several distinct groups: Grain Stacks,Poplars, Rouen Cathedral and Mornings on the Seine. He focused almost exclusively onthe atmospheric “enveloppe” of light that unifies a scene. To achieve this, Monet strippedhis subject matter down to a few boldly stated shapes of color. The motif became second-ary to color and light, with the overall effect changing in differing times of day or yearand under different weather conditions. The color unity in these paintings is so strong, dueto the “enveloppe” of color and light, that one single word or sensation can be used todescribe each work—bright, harmonious, cool, or warm. When viewed together, the seriesgave the illusion of a motif in continuous atmospheric flux. These series paintings are cen-tral to appreciating Monet’s art.

Claude Monet Slide List

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What two complementarycolors dominatethis work?

7. Grain Stack, Sunset1891, oil on canvas, 29-1/2” x 37”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Monet chose to paint the grain stacks in the field near his house. They were a good choicebecause they stayed in the same place for a long period of time, allowing him to paintthem under different circumstances. He painted fifteen paintings showing the stacks indifferent seasons and times of day. In this version of the grain stack, we see the stackclose-up as a solid shape. By standing very close to the stack he could paint it as a massof color. It is interesting to note that the pyramidal shape of the stack conveys a sense ofpermanence that somewhat contradicts the transient effects of the setting sun. However,the stack is never overwhelmed by the light and thus never loses its sense of shape. Moneteven outlines it, with bold red color. He unifies the huge stack with the background byhaving it touch the houses in the center of the painting.

The entire scene appears to be aflame with the last rays of the sun. Monet achieves hiswarm “enveloppe” of color and light by painting the scene with an orange base color.Thesun casts a brilliant orange-gold glow across the field. The red outlines around the sil-houette of the stack convey the effect of a solid shape blocking the warm glowing light.

8. Wheat Stacks (Sunset, Snow Ef fect)1891, oil on canvas, 26” x 39-1/2”, Art Institute of Chicago

At least twelve of the “Wheat Stacks” canvases were painted during the winter andinvolve snow effects. Snow, having no inherent color, was a perfect vehicle for the studyof colored light. In winter the colors are intensified due to the setting sun after a sunlessday. Here the bright, intense blue, purple, pink and harsh orange suggest the color of thelight created by snow clouds moving across the inflamed sky at sunset. However, despitethe inflamed sky, the “enveloppe” is cool due to the overall use of blue tones. The shapesof the two stacks are silhouetted, casting cool blue shadows shadows. These shadows arejagged and dramatic repetitionsof the geometric shapes of the grain stacks. The color ofshadows became a pre-occupation of the Impressionist painters like Monet. They realizedthat shadows were the interplay of warm colors with their cool complements.

Claude Monet Slide List

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Does this paintinghave a warm orcool enveloppe?

What color are the shadows?

9. Rouen Cathedral, W est Facade, Sunlight1894, oil on canvas, 39-1/2” x 26”, National Gallery, Washington D.C.

Beginning in 1892, Monet began painting the facade of Rouen Cathedral in his nativeNormandy. From rooms facing the cathedral across a square, he concentrated on theanalysis of light and its effects on the forms of the facade, changing from one canvas toanother as the day progressed. The stone facade might seem an unusual choice of motiffor an artist dedicated to nature, but light changes even stone. Monet described the sun’seffects as follows: “sun’s rays slowly dissolved the mists...that wrapped the golden stonein an ideally vaporous enveloppe.” The gray stone was quite unlike his previous motifs,which were either reflections on colorless water or had quite strong colors themselves.Therefore the color schemes of the cathedrals were more obviously a chosen color harmony.

It is clear he was less concerned with the shape of the motif; rather, he let the surface ofthe facade catch the light and shadows in its recesses. His viewpoint was even closer thanin the “Grain Stacks,” almost severing the facade from the building and its surroundingsquare. This helped reinforce the vital design component of these works—colored lightrather than the architectural details. There is no foreground or horizon; we see only a smallportion of blue sky to contrast the bright yellow facade. The “enveloppe” is golden yel-low, with shadows created by a warm orange and its cool blue complement next to it. Thewarm color, orange, projects towards the viewer, creating the illusion of a doorway arch,while the cooler blue accents in between the towers recede, bringing the yellow sectionsof the building forward. There is a pattern created by the repetitionof warm and cool col-ors across the facade, lending animation to the otherwise static building. The overall thickbrushwork seems to melt the details and even resembles the crusty stone of the cathedral,adding unity to the painting.

10. Rouen Cathedral, Facade1894, oil on canvas, 39-1/2” x 26”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

This painting is another in the series that totaled thirty paintings upon completion. Monetneeded to work quickly before the light would change the colors. He relied on colorinstead of contour lines to describe the surface of the facade. In fact, he needed to returnto the studio to complete the paintings from memory to achieve the uniformity he desired.Here the cathedral seems to be bathed in light, but the bottom of the facade is already inless direct light, shadowed in blues and purples. Again we can see the repetition of juxta-posed cool and warm colors animating the facade. Despite the glowing orange, comple-mentary blues give this painting an overall cool “enveloppe.” Each painting in the seriesis characterized by the unity of its dominant color theme. In this series Monet departsfrom Impressionism in two critical respects: the works were not completed in “plein air,”but rather were finished off in the studio; and the motif of the cathedral looked almostabstracted and was secondary to the effects of light. He begins to foreshadow the moreexpressive use of color favored by the Post-Impressionist painters.

Claude Monet Slide List

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What are the two complementary colors in this painting?

What aspects of Impressionismare seen in this painting?

11. Poplars on the Eptec.1891, oil on canvas, 32” x 32”, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh

With this series Monet revisited the theme of reflection, which he returned to often afterthe 1860s. However, now the boundary between reality and reflection seems less obviousand offers no sense of space in the traditional manner. He simplifies and abstracts theshapes, and bases the framework of the design solely on r epetition. Monet painted thetrees from his studio boat in “plein air.” Because of the unusual viewpoint, shimmeringfoliage occupies most of the canvas. He stretched trees and their reflections from the topto the bottom of the painting. Contrary to the isolation of the grain stack’s clumsy shapein the landscape, he painted the poplars as elegant shapes, whose effectiveness isenhanced by their repetition. The trees and their reflection combine to create a large greenshape receding diagonally toward the horizon. Repetition of color is also important to thecomposition. The repetition of the orange clouds against the blue sky and blue water isseen on the left and right side of the painting, as well as on the top and the bottom. Thesecolor contrasts strike the eye and simultaneously unify the composition.

Claude Monet Slide List

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What organicshapes do you see?

Water Landscapes in GivernyIn 1890 Monet purchased a house at Giverny on the Seine, outside Paris. He created alarge flower garden and on adjacent land, built a pond that he filled with thousands ofwaterlilies—both, as he said, “for the pleasure of the eyes and for the purpose of havingsubjects to paint.” These gardens became his primary motif for the rest of this life.Monet’s first paintings of the 20th century were images of the Japanese-style footbridgethat arched across the pond, with reflection of trees among the waterlilies on the surfaceof the water. The watery surface, like the atmospheric “enveloppe” Monet sought in hisseries paintings, unified his canvases. Monet had always been interested in water andreflections, seeing their fragmented forms as the natural equivalent for his own brokenbrushwork.

12. Bridge Over a Pool of W aterlilies1899, oil on canvas, 36-1/2” x 29”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

This is one of eighteen views of the footbridge over Monet’s pond at his home in Giverny.Everyone called it the “Japanese Bridge,” and it was probably inspired by a bridge depict-ed in a print by Utagawa Hiroshige that hung in Monet’s home. Monet painted this scenefrom the water itself, in his studio boat. The bridge cuts across the canvas and extendsbeyond its edges. The sky has disappeared and the lush foliage rises all the way to thehorizon, so as not to distract us from the subject at hand.

However, the bridge is not the main subject; rather, the water lilies and the reflections ofthe willows are the main motifs. Monet paints the water as a wedge-like shape that stretch-es across the entire foreground, leading the viewer into the distance. The water’s surfaceconsumes the majority of the canvas. The similar overall surface treatment and unity ofcolor gives the painting a distinct color scheme. Many of the paintings in this series actu-ally have titles alluding to their color schemes, such as “harmony in green.” Despite thegreen “enveloppe” derived from the natural setting, there are other colors used here. Thefloating leaves of the lilies are painted in silvery-green, reflecting the sunlight. The flow-ers are indicated with large dabs of white, with tinges of yellow and pink. The reflection(r epetition of the shape) of the green bridge appears in its complementary color, red,toward the bottom of the painting. The repeated bands of waterlilies appear as flattenedareas of broken color, without a traditional sense of depth. Only the shape of the track ofwater gives us the illusion of perspective. This painting reflects Japanese influences in theMonet’s composition.

Claude Monet Slide List

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Where is the sky in this painting?

13. Water Lilies: Japanese Bridgec.1922, oil on canvas, 35” x 45-1/2”, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Monet produced this painting at a time when his deteriorating eyesight was diminished bycataracts. Monet had already added a second tier to his footbridge and resumed paintinga group of easel paintings of the bridge in “plein-air.” He represented only a fragment ofhis subject, and enlarged it. Wild expressive strokes of red and gold replaced the blues andgreens of 20 years prior, giving the painting a fiery “enveloppe.” Objective reality givesway to the expressive power of shapeand color. The energetic brushstrokes of vibrantcolor float on the surface of the canvas, without the benefit of a horizon line for stability.The brushstrokes whirl around the composition in a pattern of light and shadow, render-ing the footbridge unimportant. Monet anticipates abstract expression in modern art withthis celebration of color and shape. Unity is still present through the repetition of theshapes of the bridge and the overall color harmony of the warm reds, oranges and yellows.

Fun Fact: By the time Monet was convinced to have surgery for his cataracts, he had only10% vision in one eye. His daughter helped him with his work by identifying his tubes ofpaint.

14. Waterlilies1915, oil on canvas, 63-1/4” x 71”, Portland Art Museum, Oregon

Beginning in 1903, Monet painted a group of increasingly experimental, dream-like“water landscapes,” as he called them. These paintings were magnified views of thewaterlilies on the water’s surface. One gardener was employed solely to maintain thewaterlilies in the compositional order that Monet wanted. Monet stood in his boat andlooked down on the lilies, causing the viewpoint to tilt. The rest of the pond setting evap-orates and the water surface alone occupies the entire canvas.

Floating lily pads and mirrored reflections of willows assume equal importance, blurringthe lines between solid objects and the effects of light on water. Sky, water, and vegeta-tion are transformed into vibrant masses of color. The surface of the water, the depthsbelow it, and the light reflecting off of it are now the motif. The water lily shapes float inopen space, with color alone giving the clue to what we see. Green stands for vegetationand blue for the water and sky. Repeatedclusters of white and red color depict the flow-ers on the disc-shaped pads. We could turn the scene upside down and still achieve thesame feeling, which demonstrates the new reality created by this close-up viewpoint, cou-pled with the abstracted shapesand brushwork.

Claude Monet Slide List

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What time of day do you think thispainting represents?

What shapes do you see in thewater ’s reflection?

15. Nympheas: Green Reflections (detail)1918, oil on canvas, 13’ panel, Museé L’Orangerie, Paris

Monet’s last series consisted of 14-foot canvases of waterlilies, which he bequeathed toFrance. They were installed in two oval rooms of the L’Orangerie Museum in the TuileriesGardens shortly after his death. The panels were dozens of feet in width, and Monet hada special studio built to accommodate them in Giverny.

In these paintings, one color predominates and one or two tones of color modulate thefield of the composition. He was at least 50 years ahead of other 20th-century painterswho painted in this manner. The dense brushstrokes are long and raking, carrying coloracross the picture surface. There is unity among the different sequences of the panels asthey form a continuous frieze around the room, surrounding the viewer with the illusionof an endless expanse of water. Motif and viewer are both engulfed in the atmospheric“enveloppe.” The specific color harmony (or “enveloppe”) of this detail of the panel isreflected in the title—green reflections. The lily pads are hazy and almost dissolve into thewater’s surface. Their shapesare suggested by a few abstract brushstrokes, with the ovalshapes floating in the space of the water’s surface. At the top of the canvas, the lowerdepths of the water and its reflected vegetation are painted in fairly dark, cool tones withheavily streaked brushstrokes. The uniformly repeatedbrushwork in this area makes ithard to distinguish between water, reflections, and the weeds and plants below the surface.These later water landscapes are not entirely non-representational, yet they are not trulyconceptual either. They are a combination of the two, which foreshadows AbstractExpressionism.

Claude Monet Slide List

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How did Monetcreate the shapesof the lily pads and flowers ?

Pastel Reflection

GoalProduce a water scene showing reflection using Monet’s Impressionist method of creating shapes and optical colormixing via repeated dashes, dabs and short streaks of pure color.

Criteria• Include at least two reflected shapes/objects.• Create shapes/forms only through dashes, dabs and short streaks of color—NO OUTLINES.• Chose a time of day: noon-time, sunrise or sunset.

Materials• Oil pastels• 6” x 4 1/2” white construction paper

Procedure

1. Use the top half of the paper for your scene and reserve the lower half for its reflection.

2. Create the upper part of your composition. Lay down your scene using only dashes, dabs, and short streaks of color. (use predominantly horizontal dashes and strokes). DO NOTDRAW YOUR SHAPES USING OUT-LINES!

3. Repeat your shapes/objects upside down on the lower half of the paper to achieve your reflection. (Suggestion: It may be easier to produce the reflection if you turn the paper 90 degrees so that the horizon is vertical).

4. Depth of color can be achieved by using two or more similar colors next to each other.

5. Show the time of day by: a) adding yellow in the sky and white highlights in the water to show noon time sunlight; b) adding warm colors (peach, pink, orange, or red) close to the horizon coupled with dark cool colors (purple, blue, or green) in the water to depict the sunset.

6. Write your name in the bottom corner in pencil.

Claude Monet Hands-on Project

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