Just about everyone who loves art, loves the French Impressionists. And the works most admired are Claude Monet paintings. The water lily series as well as the garden paintings were the beginnings of abstract art and today art historians understand the importance of these works as the prototype of non-representational art.
The master of Giverney was convinced that the eye could look beyond surface appearance. That pictorial composition should be less about what one thinks one sees and more about the way light impacts any object. An object relays much more than the eye can see.
Monet lived most of his life in Giverney, France where he cultivated a massive garden complete with a Japanese bridge, a lily pond and innumerable flowers, bushes and trees. The house and garden remain intact today bringing visitors by the thousands each month. Everyone wants to behold the beauty of a genuine master of the art of painting. He was no slouch in the gardening department either.
In the nineteenth century, a few names stand out in artistic circles. Monet and Cezanne are the lions of painting. Both are considered the fathers of modernism and both have only grown in stature since their deaths. They each lived a long life and worked until the end.
Monet said the only thing that mattered to him was his paintings. Perhaps a few flowers, he admitted. He had no use for Parisian life, did not sit in cafes speculating on the art world and where it was going. He entertained visitors handsomely when they dropped in on him but lived a solitary life working. He was pursued by color and thought of little else.
His series of twenty paintings of Rouen Cathedral sum up his vast knowledge of color and form. Rendered at all times of day and night, each acquires a transcendent motif that belies objective viewing. In this he created a realm of diverse perception. While the building remains solid, the air around it shimmers with changing hues that defy the eye to perceive complacently. Perception is transformed.
Monet was able to grasp the fleeting and render the mystery of nature. He painted a heightened spectacle from a heightened awareness. He could paint the sun without a direct implication that the sun was in fact the subject. What was a haystack in a field, was in essence, a tonal exercise in light as it pitched itself to earth, changing by the minute, everything it touches.
Monet did not paint objects. Others were content to render bridges, trees, lakes, fields and buildings. He was not satisfied with this simplicity: he wanted to paint the air around the objects. Since atmosphere changes constantly, it could never be completely captured. It was a work in progress that enabled the artist to work toward abstraction. What he was seeking could not entirely be subjugated.
Monet lived to the age of 86 and was nearly blind in his last years. He worked until the end. He never became bored with his garden though he did take a few trips to paint other scenes. After refreshing his vision, his garden was always there waiting for his renewed vision. His work never became a cliche or a formula. There is where the genius in Claude Monet paintings shows itself. To capture what is ephemeral, requires a touch of the miraculous. That rendering will never grow tedious.
The master of Giverney was convinced that the eye could look beyond surface appearance. That pictorial composition should be less about what one thinks one sees and more about the way light impacts any object. An object relays much more than the eye can see.
Monet lived most of his life in Giverney, France where he cultivated a massive garden complete with a Japanese bridge, a lily pond and innumerable flowers, bushes and trees. The house and garden remain intact today bringing visitors by the thousands each month. Everyone wants to behold the beauty of a genuine master of the art of painting. He was no slouch in the gardening department either.
In the nineteenth century, a few names stand out in artistic circles. Monet and Cezanne are the lions of painting. Both are considered the fathers of modernism and both have only grown in stature since their deaths. They each lived a long life and worked until the end.
Monet said the only thing that mattered to him was his paintings. Perhaps a few flowers, he admitted. He had no use for Parisian life, did not sit in cafes speculating on the art world and where it was going. He entertained visitors handsomely when they dropped in on him but lived a solitary life working. He was pursued by color and thought of little else.
His series of twenty paintings of Rouen Cathedral sum up his vast knowledge of color and form. Rendered at all times of day and night, each acquires a transcendent motif that belies objective viewing. In this he created a realm of diverse perception. While the building remains solid, the air around it shimmers with changing hues that defy the eye to perceive complacently. Perception is transformed.
Monet was able to grasp the fleeting and render the mystery of nature. He painted a heightened spectacle from a heightened awareness. He could paint the sun without a direct implication that the sun was in fact the subject. What was a haystack in a field, was in essence, a tonal exercise in light as it pitched itself to earth, changing by the minute, everything it touches.
Monet did not paint objects. Others were content to render bridges, trees, lakes, fields and buildings. He was not satisfied with this simplicity: he wanted to paint the air around the objects. Since atmosphere changes constantly, it could never be completely captured. It was a work in progress that enabled the artist to work toward abstraction. What he was seeking could not entirely be subjugated.
Monet lived to the age of 86 and was nearly blind in his last years. He worked until the end. He never became bored with his garden though he did take a few trips to paint other scenes. After refreshing his vision, his garden was always there waiting for his renewed vision. His work never became a cliche or a formula. There is where the genius in Claude Monet paintings shows itself. To capture what is ephemeral, requires a touch of the miraculous. That rendering will never grow tedious.
About the Author:
I hope you find this article helpful. Consider a hand-painted oil on art paintings reproduction for your home decoration project. We specialized in reproduction of museum masterpieces. Enjoy our large selections of Claude Monet paintings at affordable prices.
0 comments:
Post a Comment