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.

Charing Cross Bridge

The effects of light depicted by Claude Monet are in many cases breathtaking. Some of these effects were only apparent for a few minutes every day and required Monet to return and observe and paint it at that time. Others were less difficult to find and thus to paint. In general, the series paintings of Monet, like his depictions of Parlaiment in London and Haystacks in France, were more extreme in the lighting conditions displayed than the Water Lily paintings. These last were in turn more subtle.

 

One of the most magnificent depictions of lighting effects by Monet can be found in the painting Charing Cross Bridge. Painted by Monet in 1899, it depicts this bridge under very special lighting conditions. It is an early, foggy morning with mist rising from the river. The combination of the early morning light with the misty and foggy conditions allows for a very special light that gets reflected in the water particles in the air. The result is a fairly low visibility combined with a bluish light that dominates wherever you look.

 

As the day wore on, the heat of the sun would of course clear up this particular sight and scene, but at this time in the morning, probably only for a very short time, the landscape seen from the point of Monet was bluish in color and a fantastic sight. It was one of the great gifts of Monet that he was not only able to recognize such beauty but also able to depict it with such accuracy.

 

Claude Monet Reproductions are available and Charing Cross Bridge can today been seen at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, Spain.

Monet Garden in Japan

One of the most celebrated single settings for paintings in art history is Monet’s garden in Giverny. Here, Monet himself worked for more than 20 years to create his amazing Water Lily paintings, among other. Other artists joined in as well, with the likes or Renoir dropping by to paint e.g. Girl with a Watering Can in the famous garden.

However, as famous as Claude Monet paintings garden in Giverny is, it may still come as a surprise to most that it has actually copied down to the latest detail on a different continent, Japan. The Japanese has build Garden of Monet Marmottan in the village of Katagawa. This is a complete reproduction of the original Monet garden, complete with pathways, flowers, plants, ponds and of course the Japanese bridge. In order to ensure the highest possible level of authenticity, the work was thus supported by Mr Gérald Van Der Kemp, the first curator of the Monet Foundation in Giverny. Through these efforts, a complete replica garden can now be visited in Japan.

One might not think that there is such interest in a French Impressionist who lived a century ago in today’s Japan. That would be an obvious and easy conclusion, and as such, also quite wrong. The Garden of Monet in Japan was in fact visited by more than 200.000 people in its first year alone. That is a massive interest in a recreated French garden, and its stems from the kinship the Japanese feel for Monet. He was himself inspired by Japanese painting and art, and had numerous Japanese prints in his house in Giverny. This inspiration shines through in his art, in its simplicity of subject and his choice of angles, and this in turn allows the Japanese to recognize something of their own in the art of Monet. The inspiration went beyond the pure artistc, however, as is attested by the presence of the Japanese bridge in Monet’s garden. The garden in Katagawa has one of these too!

Monet's Japanese Bridge

Claude Monet loved to paint in and around the surroundings of his house in Giverny, France. One of the subjects that you find in many of his paintings from this period is The Japanese bridge which was one of Monet's favourite features in his garden. read the full article of Monet's Japanese Bridge

haystacks in the village of Giverny

Claude Monet completed a series of paintings between 1890 and the spring of 1891 of the haystacks in the village of Giverny where he later purchased a house. The haystacks of Giverny with modern farming techniques are no longer there but Monet's representation lives on. read the full article of Monet and the Haystacks of Giverny.

Antibes Seen From the Salis Gardens

As one of the founders of impressionism, indeed the one whose painting lend its name to the movement, Monet was also the most consistent practitioner of the impressionist philosophy of depicting your perception of nature in outdoor landscape paintings. This led to a number of studies of singular subjects like haystacks and the house of parliament but also to broader landscape paintings, some of which a true treasures of the art world.

 

Among these, we find beautiful depictions like “Antibes Seen From the Salis Gardens”. Monet painted a number of paintings in 1888 depicting Antibes from different angles and times and this painting belongs to that series. It offers a beautiful morning view of Antibes, with the rising sun lighting up the sky and the tree in the garden directly in front of Monet, as well as the town of Antibes behind it. The depiction of this morning light is exquisite and brings with it a sense of warmth and joy. It is a positive image of optimism and bliss.

 

The depiction is done with the delicate expert brush strokes of Claude Monet paintings. This helps to add to the impression, as photo-clear depiction lends way to a focus on colors and light. This masterpiece of impressionism can today be found at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio.

An example of Color Art?

I saw a question today on Yahoo answers which I think deserves mentioning. It was whether Impression Sunrise by Claude Monet was an example of Color Art?

Now, first of all, what color art consists of would be the first question to ask. That was however not clarified. As such, there are really two options. Either we are talking about whether the painting is in color (which it most definitely is) or whether it can be consider color realism along the lines of e.g. Dutch master Vermeer (which it can most definitely not be). So I guess the main question is down to a definition of what is really asked.

At the least, I must say that any argument to the fact that due to its limited use of color, employing mainly a blue-grey color with the sun mainly standing out, obviously have not experienced sunrise across the harbor in Le Havre and how the light and fog interacts to create such effects. Such studies of light be the artist was actually the main subject for Monet, with the artists neutrality in forming the impression assured. As such, this is actually a study of light and color generated by certain conditions. So from here, color art it is. See more Claude Monet reproductions and brighten up your home with Impression Sunrise.