Impression Sunrise

What can be said about the painting that lend its name to the whole impressionist movement? One of the most iconic images of the art world, with an eternal appeal? Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise is all that and more. Painted in 1872 and showing the entrance to the harbor in Le Havre, Impression Sunrise was first exhibited in Paris  in 1874 in what was to be the first showing by the impressionists. It was also here that art critic Louis Leroy, not to impressed with what was on display, titled his review "The Exhibition of the Impressionists", more to mock than to salute. However, the artists themselves liked the term and held on to it.

Monet himself said the following about the painting and its name:

“Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le Havre, from my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats sticking up in the foreground....They asked me for a title for the catalogue, it couldn't really be taken for a view of Le Havre, and I said: 'Put Impression”.

It is often commented that the sun seems almost alive in Impression Sunrise; that the painting has an unreal quality that is hard to define. This effect comes from a peculiar result of the brightness employed in the painting. The sun and the clouds around it share the same brightness. In fact, if you take a black and white copy of the painting, the sun is not visible at all. In the human brain, the older part of the brain that we share with other mammals has a visual that only registers luminance and not color. That makes the sun invisible to that part of our brain. However, the newer part of the visual cortex, found only in humans and primates, can perceive colors. It is this conflict between these two parts of our brain that gives this living quality to the work.

Impression Sunrise can today be found on display at the Musée Marmottan in Paris.

Lavacourt - Sunshine and Snow

Claude Monet painting of “Lavacourt - Sunshine and Snow” in 1880 while he was staying in Vétheuil. Camille Monet had died only months earlier and Monet was alone in the house for the winter. While there, he took his mind off these recent problems by paintings the land around him.

“Lavacourt - Sunshine and Snow” shows a house in this countryside around where Monet was staying during this winter. The snow in the hills around reflects the light of the rising sun in this morning scene. As with most of Monet’s work, the painting is a study in light. How the early morning light streams across the morning sky, bringing its fresh color and light to the world, and how that same light reflects off the snow, changing its color as it does so.

The painting is done with the masterful gentle yet visible brush strokes of Monet. These gentle strokes add structure to the painting and helps bring out the contrasts in the reflected light.

“Lavacourt - Sunshine and Snow” is among the less known master pieces of Monet, with a beautiful depiction of the French winter countryside. The painting can today be seen at the National Gallery in London.

Camille Monet on her Deathbed

Monet is known for his subtle yet slightly visible brush strokes. Their fine execution is a characteristic trait of Claude Monet Paintings. Indeed, there are very few exceptions to this dedicated style, but they do in fact exist. Example in point is the painting “Camille Monet on her Deathbed”, which Monet painted in 1879 of Camille as she lay dying of Tuberculosis.

In the painting, we see Camille laying dying on her deathbed. The brush strokes with which this is conveyed are often large and quite dominant. Especially the white covering her but also the figure slightly visible in the upper right corner is depicted with these powerful strokes. The coloring is also very black and white, with very few colors and a sense of loss dominating the palette. The authenticity of this coloring can certainly be questioned; whether it really looked like this or whether Monet himself mere wanted to express this feeling he had when looking at his dying wife, seemingly alone in her suffering. It is as if the great loss of his wife has made Monet temporarily forego some of the doctrines of impressionism and has moved much closer to the future movement of expressionism, with a clear sense of loss in both the coloring and the lack of lines. Monet’s great sorrow has so to speak let him abandon his clear ideals in through this detour, he is actually moving closer to future artistic movements than we would see this dedicated impressionist do for the remainder of his career.

“Camille Monet on her Deathbed” can today be found at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, France.

Monet's Poplars

Monet painted a number of painting series, illustrating the effects of different lighting conditions on a subject. Among the most famous of these are the paintings of The house of Parliament in London and the paintings of Rouen Cathedral. However, before Claude Monet painted such permanent motives, he also did series characterized by a more open air feel. Among the first, we find Poplars, which was painted by Monet in the summer and fall of 1891.

The paintings depict a single file of Poplar trees standing on the edge of the Epte river, near the artists house in Giverny. The river forms an s-curve at this point, thus allowing the Poplars to dominate both the foreground and background of the painting. The paintings were done on a flooding studio that Monet had moored off the bank of the river, and to which he commuted by a small boat. However, before he had finished painting the series, the trees were offered for sale on auction by the commune of Limetz, on whose ground they rested. This led to Monet himself having to buy the trees in order to finish the paintings. He afterwards sold them to a lumber merchant. Maybe this experience was part of the reason why Monet picked more established subjects like a cathedral and a house of parliament for later series?

The Poplar series is among the earliest by Monet, and shows the Artists in his favorite outdoor element, depicting the effects of light on the French countryside. Today, the paintings can be found at leading art museums across the world, including in Philadelphia, Tokyo and Edinburgh.