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What is unusual about the painting by Claude Monet Maki. Poppy Field is an installation inspired by the canvases of Claude Monet. Why did Monet not draw the sky

Original Title: Poppies at argenteuil

Year of creation: 1873

Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Oscar Claude Monet (November 14, 1840 - December 5, 1926) - French painter, one of the founders of Impressionism.

The painting Field of Poppies (1873), presented at the first exhibition of the Impressionists, depicts Monet's wife Camille and their son Jean in a field near their home in Argenteuil. Like many other works by Monet, Camille is drawn with an umbrella in her hands, and its graceful outlines give the picture a special charm. Wanting to convey a sense of movement, Monet added a second pair of figures (also modeled by Camille and Jean) at the top of the hill. They are connected to the figures in the foreground by a barely noticeable path running through the grass. Monet wrote "Field of Poppies" in the open air, on a small portable canvas. Although the painting conveys a natural, spontaneous feeling, it is carefully composed. This is expressed not only in the fact that the artist repeated the figures on it twice, but also in the choice of the angle, which is set in such a way that the bright poppies filling the left part of the composition are located diagonally, along which Camille and Jean walk, as if coming out at the same time beyond the picture. The intense color and movement that fill this section of the painting is in a balanced contrast to the calm tones of the upper right edge of the canvas, where the terracotta roof of the house skillfully connects the background with the foreground of the composition.

Description of the painting by Claude Monet "Poppies" (At Argenteuil)

Monet's work "Poppies", his second name "Field of Poppies at Argenteuil", was written by the artist in 1873. The landscape of the poppy field, depicted in the picture, with a small ridge of trees, as if separating the sky from the earth, at first gives a sense of the uncomplicated nature of the plot. But looking deeper into the picture, you realize that the first impression was deceiving.

The picture can be figuratively divided by two perpendicular lines into four sections. The horizontal line, as if roughly and clearly defined, cuts the slightly visible, virtual vertical line. The house depicted on the canvas is a kind of center of intersection of two lines, connecting the composition into one whole.

The picture is remarkable for its semantic and sensual load, displayed by the silhouettes of women with children, who are on the top of the hill and its slope. The woman and the boy, whom we see in the foreground of the painting, are none other than the artist's wife and son. Unusual composition gives an illusory vision of the picture in the picture. The repeating image of silhouettes gives a sense of the movement of women with children along an inconspicuous path. A tree towering over the hill increases the fullness and importance of this part of the work.

The right, almost colorless, part contrasts against the background of a blooming poppy field and is the background for the female silhouette depicted at the intersection of adjacent areas of the painting.

With just a few strokes of the brush, the artist marked the sky. The parts of the canvas not touched by the paint show the author's unwillingness to focus on the upper part of the canvas.

Taken together, the picture is perceived as a commitment to earthly values ​​that are of paramount importance. To solve the task set for himself, the artist resorted to all the possibilities in his stock of conveying his vision of the storyline of the picture.

The great French impressionist painter Claude Monet ( Oscar-Claude Monet), (1840-1926) loved to paint flowers. He painted flowers throughout his life, in different periods creativity. More often garden and wild flowers, less often cut flowers in vases.

Flowers were his passion. Monet said that most of all in life he adores two things: painting and gardening. Therefore, he experienced the greatest pleasure when he depicted flowers in his paintings.

Even his family members, he always painted surrounded by flowers, thereby emphasizing his sincere love for them.

“Perhaps it is thanks to the flowers that I became an artist,” said Claude Monet about himself.

One of the early works of Claude Monet "Women in the Garden", 1866-1867, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

The figures of women are depicted on this canvas in a very stylized manner. The artist makes all the emphasis on the play of light and shadow, on the foliage of trees and flowers. Monet is still looking for his own style; there are still five years left before the official date of the birth of impressionism.
The model for all three women was 19-year-old Camilla Donsier, the future wife of Claude Monet.

The canvas is very large, its dimensions are 2.05 by 2.55 m.
The artist intended to exhibit this painting at the Paris Salon in 1967, but the jury rejected him.

At the end of Claude Monet's life, when he was already a recognized and renowned master, the French government bought in 1921 the painting "Women in the Garden" from the artist for 200 thousand francs.

Saint Andress

"Terrace at St Andres", approx. 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This painting depicts the artist's family living in the small port town of Saint-Andresse near Le Havre on the Normandy coast. Monet's father and his aunt Madame Lecadre are sitting in the armchairs. At the railing stands a distant relative of Monet, Jeanne-Margarita, with a young man. We can say that this is a family scene against the backdrop of a seascape. But look at how the flowers are drawn in the foreground of the picture! How well Monet conveyed the texture of colors and the play of light and shadows.

"Blooming Garden at St Andres", c. 1866, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
"Adolphe Monet Reading in the Le Côteau Gardens at Saint-Andresse", c. 1866 g.
"Lady in the Garden", 1867, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

The painting depicts a distant relative of Claude Monet, Jeanne-Marguerite Lecadr in a garden in St. Andresse.

Argenteuil, 1872 - 1977

Claude Monet always wanted to have his own garden, where he could calmly work in the open air.

At the end of 1871, Claude Monet and his family settled in Argenteuil. Then it was a small resort village near Paris, 12 km from the city center, located on the picturesque banks of the Seine. Argenteuil is now part of the Greater Paris. In Argenteuil, Monet had his own house and his first garden. It seems to me that it was in Argenteuil that best pictures Claude Monet. This was the brightest period of his career. Monet's painting is generally light, but it is in Argenteuil that his canvases simply shine with joy. Apparently, these were the most happy years his life. Almost all canvases painted in Argenteuil depict Camille, the beloved first wife of Claude Monet.

In those years, Argenteuil was a favorite vacation spot for Parisians, sailing regattas were regularly held there. She led to Argenteuil Railway, getting there from Paris was quick and easy. Not only Monet, but also other impressionist painters Manet, Renoir, Sisley, Caillebotte painted their landscapes in Argenteuil.

A friend of the artist Renoir captured him at work in Argenteuil, and thanks to this we can see what the garden of Claude Monet was like, and how he wrote in the open air.

Pierre Auguste Renoir "Monet painting in his garden at Argenteuil", 1873


And Edouard Manet painted a family portrait of the artist against the backdrop of a blooming garden.

Edouard Manet "The Monet family in their garden at Argenteuil", 1874, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The painting depicts Claude Monet tending flowers, his wife Camilla and son Jean.

Garden, flowers and chickens. In 10 years all this will be with Claude Monet in Giverny.

Pierre Auguste Renoir "Madame Monet and Her Son", 1974. National Gallery, Washington.

Camille Monet and her son Jean.
It seems that Edouard Manet and Renoir wrote to the Monet family on the same day and in the same place.

This painting was kept in the collection of Claude Monet in Giverny. The artist's youngest son Michel Monet sold it in 1952 during a period of complete devastation in Giverny. After several resale under the last will of the owner in 1970, this painting entered the National Gallery in Washington.

"House of Artists in Argenteuil", 1873. Institute of the Arts, Chicago.
"Monet's garden at Argenteuil", 1873
"Houses at Argenteuil", 1873, Old National Gallery, Berlin.

In the summer, Argenteuil was literally drowned in flowers.

"Flowers on the River Bank at Argenteuil", 1877, Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan.

The Seine at Argenteuil is very picturesque, in this place it forms a beautiful bend. Claude Monet was fascinated by the river and the nature of Argenteuil, he enthusiastically worked here in the open air.

"Camilla Monet on a bench in the garden". 1873 year. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

As always a garden, and as always - flowers.
Please note: there is a bouquet of flowers on the bench next to Camilla.

"Jean Monnet on a horse-bike". 1872 year. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Even painting a portrait of his son, Claude Monet did not forget about flowers. He preferred to capture all the significant events of his life on his canvases against the background of flowers.

"In the meadow", 1876

The canvas depicts the artist's wife, Camille Monet, reading a book in a meadow, surrounded by meadow flowers.


"Apple Trees in Bloom", 1873.

Amazing!

"The artist's family in the garden", 1875
"In the Garden", 1875

This picture, apparently, depicts the same corner of the garden as in the previous one, only a few months later - in the fall.
Claude Monet loved to paint cycles of paintings - the same objects in different lighting conditions: in different time of the year, at different times of the day. He tried to convey the fleeting states of the light-air environment, to capture the subtle halftones of color. We see how the corner of the garden is transformed, how the colors fade, the light fades. The flowers in the flowerbed stopped, and the foliage on the trees turned yellow.

"Woman with an Umbrella" ("Walk: Camille Monet with Son Jean"), 1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
"Camilla Monet with her son", 1875, Museum fine arts, Boston, USA.
"Garden Corner at Montgeron", approx. 1876, State Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Montgeron is a small town in the suburbs of Paris, located 18.5 km southeast of the city center. Now it is one of the southeastern suburbs of Paris.


"Woman with an umbrella in the garden at Argenteuil", 1875.

"Walk, Argenteuil", 1875.

"Walk in Argenteuil", 1875, Marmottan-Monet Museum, Paris.

"Garden", 1872.

Camille Monet in the Garden, 1873.

"Camille Monet in the window. Argenteuil", 1873.

"Bank of the Seine near the bridge at Argenteuil", 1874.

"Camille and Jean Monet in the garden at Argenteuil", 1873.

Camille Monet in the garden at Argenteuil, 1876, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

"Gladioli". OK. 1876. Art Institute, Detroit, USA.

"Girls in the Garden", 1875, National Gallery in Prague.

Camilla with a Green Umbrella, 1876.

"The gate of the garden at Vetea", 1876.

"Garden", 1876.

"Garden, Mallows", 1877.

A very interesting series "Lilac". Compare:

Poppy fields

One of the most famous painting Claude Monet's Field of Poppies (1873, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) was painted in Argenteuil, not far from the artist's house. The painting depicts Monet's wife Camilla and his son Jean. Presumably, his wife and son also served as models for the figures of a lady with a child in the background.
See how expressively the artist painted scarlet poppies and yellow buttercups. Camille and Jean literally drown in poppies, forming complete harmony with the nature of the sun summer day.
Monet chose a very good angle for his painting - scarlet poppies are located in the lower left part of the painting, diagonally along which Camille and Jean are walking. One gets the feeling that the poppies go beyond the canvas.

Poppy fields fascinated Monet. He repeatedly returned to them in his work. He was attracted by the contrast of red poppies and green grass.

"Summer. Poppy field", 1875, private collection.

"Poppy field near Vetey" 1879.

"A field of poppies in a hollow near Giverny", 1885. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

"Poppy Field", circa 1890. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

"Oat field with poppies", 1890. Museum contemporary art, Strasbourg.

"Poppy field at Giverny". 1890-1891 Institute of the Arts, Chicago.

"Field of red poppies near Giverny", 1895. Museum of Fine Arts of Virginia, Richmond, USA.

Tulip fields

Claude Monet visited Holland several times. And, of course, he could not remain indifferent to tulips. He created a series of paintings depicting the main attractions of Holland - tulip fields and windmills.

"Tulip Fields in Sassenheim, near Leiden", 1886, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

"Tulip Fields and Windmills in Rheinsburg", 1886, private collection.

"Tulip Fields in Holland", 1886. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

"Tulip field in Holland". 1886, Museum Marmottan-Monet, Paris.

Veteuil, 1879-1881

"Artist's Garden at Vetheuil", 1880. National Gallery, Washington.

In 1879, the Monet family moved to Vétheuil, a small village on the banks of the Seine, 65 km northwest of Paris. Here Claude Monet had a second son, Michel, but, unfortunately, Camille's first wife died soon after.
Monet's family lived in Veteuil until 1881.

Claude Monet gets in touch with the family of Alice Hoschedé, whom he had already known for several years. They live together, later Alice became his second wife. But in the paintings of Claude Monet, Alice Goshede, unlike Camille, is very rare. Her daughters, stepdaughter of Claude Monet, served as models for the artist's canvases.


"Flowers on the banks of the Seine near Vetey", 1880.

"Alice Goshede in the Garden", 1881.
Claude Monet's future second wife.

"Staircase at Vetea", 1881.

"Island of Flowers near Veteya", 1880, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

"Flowers in Vetea", 1881.

"Flowers in Vetea", 1881.

Flowers in a vase

Most of all, Claude Monet loved garden and wildflowers, but sometimes he also painted still lifes, bouquets of cut flowers.

"Spring Flowers", 1864. The location of the painting is currently unknown.
Of course, in this canvas it is still difficult to recognize the future great impressionist artist.

"Chrysanthemums", 1878. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

"Bouquet of mallow", 1880.

"Sunflowers", 1881. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

"Chrysanthemums" 1882 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

"Purple Poppies", 1883. Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

"Anemones", approx. 1885, private collection.

"Two vases with chrysanthemums". 1888, private collection.

Giverny 1883 - 1926

In 1883, Claude Monet's family moved to Giverny. It is a small village in a picturesque area on the banks of the Eptes River, at the confluence with the Seine, about 80 km from Paris. Claude Monet will live in Giverny for the rest of his life.

By this time, he had already become famous artist and a well-to-do person. In 1890, he was able to buy out the house in Giverny, in which his family lived. In the house, he equipped a spacious workshop.

Claude Monet significantly expanded his garden, arranged a pond in it, water into which came from a special water intake tank built on the Epte River.

In those years, Claude Monet was carried away Japanese culture, Japanese prints, especially prints by the great Japanese artist Hokusai.
To care for the garden, Monet hired a Japanese gardener who helped him decorate the garden in a Japanese style. Monet himself was directly involved in the planning of the garden. The artist subscribed to the magazine Revue horticole (Gardening Journal), ordered plants and flowers from different countries the world.

It was this garden that became main love v last years life of the artist. In it he worked, and he painted it in all forms, from different points, at different times of the day. The garden became the main source of inspiration for the artist.
In the garden, Monet grew various flowers, water lilies grew in the pond, the famous "Japanese Bridge" was thrown across the pond. He could spend hours admiring his garden, watching the slightest change lighting, weather.
In the fall of 1899, Claude Monet began writing his famous series "Water Lilies", on which he worked until the end of his days.

Claude Monet in his garden in front of a pond with water lilies, 1905.

Claude Monet in his garden, c. 1917 Photo: Etienne Clementel.
The pictures look a little "colored" and blurry, since they were stereoscopic pictures, they had to be viewed through special colored glasses, then the image turned out to be three-dimensional.

Claude Monet (right) in his garden at Giverny. 1922 year. Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

"Alley in the garden", 1902. Gallery Belvedere, Vienna. "Blooming arch at Giverny", 1913. Phoenix Museum of Art, Arizona, USA. "Pink Arch at Giverny (Flower Arch)". 1913, private collection. "Yellow Irises", between 1914-1917 National Museum Western Art, Tokyo. "The path between the irises". 1914-17, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. "White water lilies". 1899 year. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts A.S. Pushkin, Moscow.
The famous water lily pond and the Japanese bridge. "Pond with water lilies (Japanese bridge)", 1899. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. "A pond with lilies. Harmony in green". 1899, National Gallery, London. "A pond with lilies. Harmony in green". 1899, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. "Water lilies. Harmony in pink". 1900 year. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. "A pond with water lilies". 1900 year. Institute of the Arts, Chicago.

In the first canvases of the "Water Lilies" series, Claude Monet depicted a pond with a Japanese bridge, against the background of the lush vegetation of the garden.

V recent works depicting a pond with water lilies, he deliberately distorted everything accepted rules perspectives, abandoned the horizon line, and painted only water with water lilies. Water lilies floating on the water are often cut off by the borders of the canvas, it seems that the real pond is something more than what is shown in the picture.
This series of "Water Lilies" includes over 60 canvases.

"Water Lilies". 1906 year. Institute of the Arts, Chicago.
"Water Lilies", 1916. National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo.

This huge 2-meter canvas is one of the most expressive in the "Water Lilies" series. Pink and yellow islets of water lilies are located on the dark blue, dark green and even purple surface of the pond water. The whole picture is in motion, we see the intertwining roots of water lilies. The flowers of the water lilies themselves literally protrude above the surface of the water. Claude Monet had a very subtle sense of nature and could convey all its subtleties and overflows on his canvases.

"Water Lilies". 1920-26 Orangerie Museum, Paris.

In 1980, Claude Monet's house and garden in Giverny was opened to the public. Now it is one of the most favorite museums among tourists in the suburbs of Paris.

Claude Monet. Poppies. 1773 Museum D'Orsay, Paris

"Poppies", one of the most famous works Claude Monet, I saw in. However, then I did not consider it properly. As a fan, my eyes just ran away from all those masterpieces that are in this museum!

Later, of course, I have already examined "Poppies" properly. And I found that in the museum I did not even notice a few interesting details... If you look at the picture more closely, you will probably have at least three questions:

  1. Why are poppies such large sizes?
  2. Why did Monet draw two almost identical pairs of figures?
  3. Why didn't the artist draw the sky in the picture?

I will answer these questions in order.

1. Why are poppies so big?

Poppies are shown very large. Most of them are from the head of the child depicted. And if you take the poppies from the background and bring them closer to the figures in the foreground, then they will even be larger than the head of both the child and the woman depicted. Why is this unrealistic?



In my opinion, Monet deliberately increased the size of the poppies: so he once again preferred to convey a vivid visual impression, and not the realism of the objects depicted.

Here, by the way, one can draw a parallel with his technique of depicting water lilies in his later works.

Look for clarity at the fragments of paintings with water lilies different years(1899-1926). The top work is the earliest (1899), the bottom is the latest (1926). Obviously, over time, the water lilies became more abstract and less detailed.

Apparently "Poppies" are just a harbinger of the predominance of abstractionism in Monet's later paintings.





Claude Monet paintings. 1. Top left: Water lilies. 1899 d. Private collection. 2. Top right: Water lilies. 1908 d. Private collection. 3. Middle: A pond with water lilies. 1919 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 4. Below: Lilies. 1926 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

2. Why are there two pairs of identical figures in the picture?

It turns out that it was also important for Monet to show movement in his painting. He got it in an unusual way, depicting a barely visible path on a hill among flowers, as if trodden between two pairs of figures.

At the bottom of the hill with poppies depicts wife Camilla and son Jean. Camilla is traditionally depicted with a green umbrella, just like in the painting "Woman with an Umbrella".

Up on the hillock upstairs there is another pair of a woman and a child, for whom Camilla and her son most likely also posed. Therefore, the two pairs are so similar.


Claude Monet. Poppies. Fragment. 1873 g. D'Orsay Museum, Paris.

This pair of figures on the hill is depicted, perhaps purely for the visual effect of movement that Monet so aspired to.

3. Why didn't Monet draw the sky?

Another noteworthy point in: Notice how poorly the sky is drawn down to the bare areas of the canvas.


Claude Monet. Poppies. Fragment. 1873 The painting Field of Poppies (1873), presented at the first Impressionist exhibition, depicts Monet's wife Camille and their son Jean in a field near their home in Argenteuil. Like many other works by Monet, Camille is drawn with an umbrella in her hands, and its graceful outlines give the picture a special charm.

Monet wrote "Field of Poppies" in the open air, on a small portable canvas. Although the painting conveys a natural, spontaneous feeling, it is carefully composed. This is expressed not only in the fact that the artist repeated the figures on it twice, but also in the choice of the angle, which is set in such a way that the bright poppies filling the left part of the composition are located diagonally, along which Camille and Jean walk, as if coming out at the same time beyond the picture. The intense color and movement that fill this area of ​​the painting is in precise contrast to the calm tones of the upper right edge of the canvas, where the terracotta roof of the house skillfully connects the background with the foreground of the composition.

Passion for flowers

All his life, Monet was very fond of painting flowers - field, garden or cut, they are constantly present in his landscapes.

Monet once confessed that the two biggest passions in his life were painting and gardening. When he painted flowers, these two passions combined. In The Field of Poppies, as in many of his other canvases, Monet enjoys wild, vibrant flowers. Several beautiful still lifes of Monet with cut flowers are known, but most of all he loved to paint the flowers that grew in his gardens, first in Argenteuil, and later in Giverny. In 1871, Monet moved with his family to Argenteuil to find his first home and his first garden there. However, the main passion in the artist's life was his garden at Giverny. Monet selected flowers for his garden so that they were arranged in a certain order, were contrasting in color and bloomed all year round. In his garden, he planted many unusual flowers. Monet's passion for flowers was shared by many other Impressionist painters, most notably Gustave Caillebotte. “Be sure to come on Monday, as agreed, wrote to his friend Monet. "All my irises will be in bloom."

Obsession with light and color

Monet's obsession with light and color resulted in years of research and experimentation, the purpose of which was to capture the fleeting, elusive shades of nature on canvas.

MONET'S PAINTINGS gave birth to a new trend in painting-impressionism, and Monet himself is recognized as the greatest and most typical representative of this trend. Throughout his long life, Monet has steadfastly followed the basic rules of impressionism - to capture scenes on canvas modern life(for Monet, these are landscapes) and work outdoors.

WORK IN THE PLENAIR The practice of an artist working in the open air (open air) was not something completely new. Back in the early 19th century english artist John Constable often painted his sketches and sketches in oils in nature. In the 1840s, following his example, the group French artists met in the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainebleau in order to paint landscapes that should depict "true nature". Camille Corot, who was highly regarded by many Impressionists for his imperfect view of nature, also painted in oil in the open air, urging artists to "follow their first impression."

Most important role Monet's development as an artist was played by his youthful friendship with the landscape painter Eugene Boudin, who specialized in small airy seaside landscapes that he created in the open air. Boden insisted that Monet join him during one of these sessions in Le Havre. “Suddenly the veil fell from my eyes,” wrote Monet later.

There, in Le Havre, Monet met with Dutch artist Johan Barthold Yonkind, who tried to convey the most delicate shades of air and mood in his seascapes. Later, Monet said about him: "He was the man who finally developed my vision."

WHAT THE EYE SEES IN REALLY Monet learned that a painting painted in the open air possesses a unique freshness and vitality that cannot be achieved by working in a workshop, where the artist imagines in advance the work he is about to create. The advice given to artists by Monet clearly reveals his own approach to painting: “Try to forget about what you see in front of you - about a tree, a house, about a field, about anything. Just think that there is a small blue square in this place, there is an elongated pink figure, and continue until you have a naive impression of the picture that is in front of your eyes. " Thus, an impression is a visual impulse created by what is seen at a given moment.

A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA For all the Impressionists, and for Monet in particular, the main goal of art was to capture an elusive, fleeting impression. At that time, such a thought seemed revolutionary and shocked no less than Courbet's undisguised realism in NEW TECHNOLOGY. To achieve the goals set, the artist needed new techniques of writing. Monet, in particular, developed his own writing technique, applying broad rough strokes, bold scattered dots, dashes, zigzags and thick strokes to the canvas with a short brush. Monet simultaneously worked on the entire space of the painting, believing, as he later said, that "the first layer of paint should cover as much of the canvas as possible, no matter how roughly it is applied."

In a completely new, revolutionary way, Monet used color, inspired, no doubt, by the discoveries of Eugene Chevreul about the way of visual perception. Chevreul proved that adjacent primary colors of the color wheel soften each other, and the greatest contrast is achieved when adjacent complementary colors... Another important discovery was that color is not an inherent property of objects. Color is simply the way light is blended by bouncing off the surface of an object. Like his fellow Impressionists, Monet usually used a limited palette, preferring clean, not mixed colors and by painting on canvases previously coated with white or cream primer, making the applied paints lighter and brighter.

Another important discovery that influenced the vision of artists was photography. In the photographs of that time, moving objects are perceived as blurred spots, and only stationary objects have clear outlines. This effect was clearly reflected in the ant-like figures of people we see in Monet's painting Boulevard des Capucines (1873).

CHANGING THE OBJECT OF THE IMAGE

It is very interesting to trace how Monet's attitude towards the depicted objects changed over the course of his long life. Despite the fact that he was constantly absorbed in the play of light, in his early paintings Monet most often depicted human figures painted in the usual manner against the background of the landscape.

However, closer to the 1880s, Monet is increasingly attracted to nature in its purest form. If figures or inanimate objects appear in the paintings of this period, they usually play a supporting role and fade into the background.

SERIES OF PICTURES

Despite the fact that artists at all times created a number of sketches of one scene, before Monet there was no one who would paint the same object several times in different lighting and different weather conditions. Monet's paintings represent whole series depicting haystacks, poplars, the Cathedral of Rouen, a view of London from the Thames and, finally, water lilies.

Monet's London landscapes, painted in 1899-1901, with their diffused light and diffused color, are virtuoso, dramatic works of art, which can be used to trace the evolution of the artist's style to an almost abstract manner. They show the artist's gradual progress towards the object, which he will paint in all the remaining years of his life, creating his gardens and turning them into rare works of art.

From about 1905 until the end of his days, Monet concentrated entirely on water lilies. These paintings, in which the cups of water lilies literally materialize on the surface of water that does not have a horizon line, have become sketches that capture the endless and non-repeating variety of color and light. In fact, these series of paintings, like any brilliant work of art, defy explanation. These are the works of a poet who has a subtle sense of nature and is able to convey its beauty in his painting.



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