Claude Monet:

Impressionist Master of Color, Light, and Atmosphere

“The Lesson of the Swinging Pendulum”

By Kendra Martin

    Claude Oscar Monet was the central figure of the Impressionism movement from the late 1860’s.  Artists like Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and Monet were part of the Society of Anonymous Painters, Sculptors, and Printers who shared a common impression of the “natural world” and a common intent to break from classical methods.  Their very first exhibition in April 1874, and the debut of Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1873) which depicts the foggy harbor of his boyhood home gave a name to the new art form and to the new school of artists (Claude. biography 1-2).

(Impression, Sunrise)

    Claude Monet was born in Paris on November 14, 1840 but moved to the port town of Le Havre when he was just five years old.  His father was stern, but his mother was supportive.  She shared her love of music, poetry, and art with Monet.  His mother died when he was sixteen, and during this time he was introduced and mentored in plein air (outdoor) painting by landscape artist Eugene Boudin (Claude. The Art Story 2).  Monet served for two years in the military and observed, “you cannot imagine…how much my ability to see improved” (Claude by himself 3). Afterwards, he went to study at a Parisian academy.  It was here at school that he met Jongkind, another landscape artist (3-4), of whom Monet said, “I owe the definitive training of my eyes” (4).

(Poppy Field in Argenteuil)

    At the premier Impressionist Exhibition of 1874, the artists responded to the contemporary Parisian culture.  Paris was becoming the hub of industrialization (Claude, biography 2).  French impressionists painted the town red!  They used rich colors and new techniques to depict light and movement.  Monet and his friends captured Parisian landscapes and painted cameos of middle-class citizens (Modern Art).  Monet was a master of improvisation with “surprising interpretations of common scenes,” creating with vibrant and neutral colors with oil on canvas (2).

 

( Boulevard Capuchines)

    Since childhood, Monet had loved the outdoors.  One of his earliest paintings Women in the Garden was painted totally outside.  It was nearly two and one-half meters.  To manage this task, the artist dug a trench in the garden and installed pulleys to achieve height.  A friend who visited Monet reflected that his friend would not paint a single leaf if the lighting were not perfect (Monet 1).  Because of his perfectionism, it is said that Monet destroyed up to five hundred of his paintings by burning, cutting, or kicking them! (Claude, biography 1).

(Women in the Garden)

Although the painting had numerous women, and a man, in the composition, only Monet’s wife Camille Doncieux modeled for Monet.

(The Stroll)

     The Paris Salon refused to accept the painting, because they favored romanticism.  To get even, Monet forced the French government to purchase the painting in 1921 for the extravagant total of 200,000 francs (Claude, The Art 2).  Camille’s death plummeted the artist into a depression that prompted him to produce a dismal series entitled Ice Drift after 1878 (Claude, biography 2).

       After Camille’s death, for over two decades, Monet traveled a great deal to Norway, Venice, London, and around France.  He is especially known for a series of paintings of London and the Thames River (Claude. The Art 2).

(The Houses of Parliament)

    Monet is also very famous for a series of forty paintings of the Rouen Cathedral in France which emphasized the changes of natural light upon the building:  morning light, midday, gray weather, etc. (Claude, biography 2).

(Rouen Cathedral)

    Monet remarried and lived in Giverny until he died in 1926.  Here, in his own garden that he created, he was continually inspired.  Most of these art works exclude human forms and are considered to be in his late period (Claude. artchive 2).  The painter was experimenting with smaller strokes that built up to broader color palettes (Claude. The Art 1).

(Garden at Giverny)

    In an interview, Monet was asked about the colors that he used. “What’s so interesting about that?”  he asked. Then he continued by giving his color palette:  “White lead, cadmium yellow, vermillion, madder, cobalt blue, chrome green. That’s all.” (Cauderlier 1).  It is certain that Monet nearly eradicated his use of black—even in shadows.  The shadows appear purple as in Venice at Twilight.  At Monet’s death, a friend forced the removal of a black shawl on the coffin and replaced it with a flowered one; impressionists rarely used pure black (1).

(Venice at Twilight)

    Despite his success, Monet was plagued by depression and poverty for most of his life (Claude. The Art 2).  A severe case of cataracts led to near blindness.  Although he did have surgery on one eye, he lost his ability to see colors clearly.  With cataracts, colors yellow and details fade (Cauderlier 2).  His final commission was a series of twelve water lily paintings for a Paris museum.  He wanted the paintings to be a “haven of peaceful meditation” (Claude. biography 1). 

         (Water Lillies)

    Monet’s last interview in 1905 was a reflection of his life work.  He spoke of his tough beginnings, the rough waves that kept his career afloat.  Then he considered his acceptance and fame, seeming to recognize life’s destiny, and concluded after all: “The pendulum was in motion” (Claude by himself 5).

Claude Monet, A Video of His Life and Work

Claude Monet at Work Painting Lillies

 

Works Cited

Cauderlier, A., Ed.  “The Colors of Monet.”  1-3.  Google.  Web. 13 Oct.

        2013.  http:/www.intermonet.com/colors/

“Claude Monet.” The Art Story Foundation.  1-6.  Google.  Web. 13 Oct. 2013.   

        http:/www.theartstory.org/print_new.html?id-monet_claude&name.

“Claude Monet.”  The Artchive Program.  1-10.  Google.  Web.  10 Oct. 2013.

        http:/www.artchive.com/artchive/M/monet.html.

“Claude Monet. biography.”  The Biography Channel website.  1-3.  Google.

       Web.  10 Oct. 2013.  http:/www.biography.com/people/claude-monet.

“Modern Art Movements:  1870s to 1980s.”  The Art Story Foundation.  1

        page. Google. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. http:/www.theartstory.org/section_

        movements_timeline.htm.

“Monet, Claude.”  The Web Museum, Paris.  1-2.  Google.  Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

        http:/www.ibiblio.or/wm/paint/auth/monet/

Monet, Claude.  “Claude Monet by himself.”  Reprinted from Le Temps.  26

        Nov. 1900.  Web 9 Oct. 2013.