Lesson #1

Claude Monet (mow-NAY)

French, 1840-1926

The Port at Argenteuil, about 1872

Subject

Monet probably painted this fresh, airy afternoon scene outdoors, en plein air. He often painted outdoors, then carefully reworked the details of his canvases in his studio. “My only merit,” Monet wrote later in life, “lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions before the most fleeting moments.” This is one of seventy-five works Monet painted of the Seine River in Argenteuil, a yachting center west of Paris. It combines two favorite Impressionist themes: fashionable, leisurely figures strolling, boating, and bathing, and an industrial backdrop of bridge and smokestack. Monet lived and painted in Argenteuil for several years; today the town is best known for his images of it. Additionally, Monet lured his Impressionist friends ‑ Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Manet, and Caillebotte ‑ to paint in Argenteuil, which was easily accessible from Paris by railroad.

Style

Like most of his work, The Port at Argenteuil shows Monet’s fascination with the ever-changing quality of light and color in different weather, and at different times of the day. Notice the long stripes of tree shadows in the foreground. Against the bright sky, these deep shadow tones capture a breezy late afternoon in summer. Monet usually “primed” or covered his canvas with a layer of warm gray or light tan first and then painted his subject in the short, bold brushstrokes typical of Impressionism. The scene is composed of restful, horizontal elements ‑ the shadows of trees, the water, bridge, and clouds. Monet arranged these elements in a series of planes to create depth. The plane closest to us contains the strollers, seated onlookers, boaters, and other figures; a second plane behind it has sailboats, a steamship, and a boathouse; the last and most distant is the bridge and horizon.

Artist

Monet grew up in Le Havre, France, where an aunt first financed his painting studies. Later, in Paris, he met and was influenced by future Impressionist colleagues Sisley, Renoir, and others. He was a leading figure in the Impressionists’ first group exhibition in 1874, which one critic ridiculed as “a collection of freshly painted canvases smeared with floods of cream.” It was Monet’s painting of the Le Havre harbor in Impression, Sunrise, that gave the fledgling movement its name. Until late in his life, Monet suffered frequent personal and professional ups and downs. Yet, he never wavered in the quest to paint his direct, sensory impressions of nature without intellectual thought. “Paintings aren’t made with doctrines,” he declared.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 891