 C. Monet, Water-Lilies, 1916-1923. |
Monet has always been reputed as the most important representative of Impressionism. Undoubtedly, Monet is a clear impressionist: he never forgot its bases. Along his long carrer, he would have painted almost three thousand pictures. His bigger concern was showing chromatic and luminous vibration on his canvas. In his works light generates color and form. His retina cleverly feels the reflection of light on any place: on a water surface, on a snowy floor or even on a cathedral's front. His favourite matters have to do with sea, scenes about rivers and all kind of landscapes. In his untired search for effects of light, he learnt that bright variates with the pass of time showing impressions that he tried to rescue in his swift and rapid touch of brush.
He never evolutioned to other artistic streams and was loyal to Impressionism until his death. We should point out to other cases like Cézanne's one who changed Impressionism, for a very personal style projected on different ways. Other impressionist painters with a personality different from Monet's one are Degas and Renoir, last not least.
Monet was a true lover of culture and japanese art. He even created for himself an oriental garden with a bridge and water-lilies. It was a good shelter for him in his last years. Then, an almost blind Monet let himself be "illuminated" by a clean light appearing on the water of his pool and on everything at his surroundings. That moved him to create paintings full of life, true "chromatic symphonies".
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C. Monet, La Grenouillère, 1869, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
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C. Monet, The Magpie, 1868-1869, oil on canvas, Musée d´Orsay, Paris. |
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C. Monet, Impression: Evening, 1872, oil on canvas, Musée Marmottan, Paris. |
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C. Monet, Boat races in Argenteuil, 1872, oil on canvas, Musée d´Orsay, Paris. |
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C. Monet, The Poppies, 1873, oil on canvas, Musée d´Orsay, Paris. |
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C. Monet, Walk with Umbrella or Mrs Monet with her Son, 1875, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
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C. Monet, The Japanese, 1876, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. |
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C. Monet, St. Lazar Station, 1877, oil on canvas, National Gallery, London. |
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C. Monet, Rouen Cathedral, 1894, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris. |
Written by:
Beatriz Aragonés Escobar.
Licenciada en Historia del Arte
