Monet loved painting en plein air, which means out of doors. Rawpixel Ltd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons That said, they all had their own individual styles and preferred subject matter. Regardless of the subject, all of them used the feathery brushwork, dappled light, and color so distinctive of impressionism. Many of the impressionist artists, including Monet, Renoir, Morisot, and Degas, produced portraits. They called their images of unidentified modern French people “scenes of daily life.” Instead of seeing a painting of a castle you might see a painting of a newly constructed bridge or a factory in the distance of a winter landscape. Overall, notes art historian TJ Clark, the impressionists considered themselves painters of modernity. At the time in 1869, Monet lived nearby and often went there to relax and paint. It was a favorite hangout of Parisians who liked to escape the city on their days off. The place in the picture was called La Grenouillere, which means the frog. He painted people enjoying themselves outside or sometimes in interior spaces.įor instance, in the painting you see above, people are boating and swimming on their weekend off. As I mentioned previously, he preferred painting outdoors, but he didn’t just paint landscapes or seascapes. Monet painted a lot of other subjects besides water lilies. The signature, sketchy brush marks placed side-by-side by impressionist painters were shorthand for what was seen: impressions.Ĭlaude Monet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Instead, the artists wanted their viewer’s eyes to blend the colors. Another major goal was to paint pictures of images and objects by depicting the light that illuminated them.įinally, a third crucial objective was to avoid mixing colors too much on the palette. Among them was the impulse to capture impressions of objects and scenes rather than to describe them in intricate detail. Second, Monet helped establish the most important goals of the revolutionary new style. However, they liked the name and it stuck. Based on the title of Monet’s picture, he called all of the artists “impressionists” in a derogatory way. House notes that the critic, a certain Louis Leroy, wrote for a satirical publication. When he displayed the small painting at an 1874 exhibition with some of the other pioneer impressionists, a critic actually made fun of it. In fact, impressionism earned its name from one of Monet’s paintings: Impression: Sunrise. Why was he so important, though? First, Monet was one of the main founders of the impressionist style. When you see the paintings, as I will explain in more detail below, you feel completely immersed in the beauty of nature. Above all else, the Water Lilies, especially the murals at the Musée de l’Orangerie symbolize the artist’s full retreat into nature and, especially, into his favorite subject. In this respect, Monet could be considered a clever entrepreneur as well as a great master of modernism. You can also think of this series of 250 artworks as an extremely successful business venture. That’s because, if you look at the progression of just the water lilies paintings he made over the course of three decades, you can trace the development of his unique style. Ultimately, the variations of Water Lilies paintings (which he worked on from the late 1890s until his death in 1926) stand out as perhaps his greatest artistic achievements. How extensive? Extremely-he created 250 different paintings of water lilies! However, his paintings of water lilies was the most extensive. For instance, he created numerous versions of haystacks, train stations, cathedrals, trees, and more. Moreover, he was one of the first artists to work in series in a consistent way. Between 18, Monet produced some of the most iconic works of modern art. According to art historian John House, the impressionist artist produced over 2,500 artworks during his long career. In short, he loved nature and painted his many visions of it. World-famous impressionist artist, Claude Monet, is best known for his paintings of outdoor scenes. The Complete Guide to Claude Monet and His Water Lilies
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