Oscar-Claude Monet — with passion and sacrifice.
Claude Monet , also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude Oscar Monet, is the founder of French impressionism movement. The term “impressionism” is based on his canvas “Impression, Sunrise” (in French. “Impression, soleil levant”).
biography
Claude Oscar Monet was born on November 14, 1840 in Paris. He was 5 years old when his family settled in Havre, Normandy. The artist’s talent attracted a lot of attention from his childhood. He was so good at drawing caricatures and cartoons that his works were displayed in public places.
In the summer of 1870, at the Hotel Tivoli in Trouville, he met Eugène Boudin. Boudin soon noted the boy’s talent and became his “creative teacher”. He taught Monet true Outdoor painting — Plein Air Painting.
In 1862, Monet worked in the workshop of Charles Gleyre, which was located in Paris, he was a student. Here he became friends with Frédéric Basile, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley.
In the workshop, for the first time, he openly protested against the stereotyped academic teaching. It turns out that while painting one of the models, Charles Gleyre started criticizing his work. He said that it’s not bad, but the chest is too heavy, the shoulders are strong, the feet are Weber-like. Monet replied: „I can only draw what I see.“ And Gleyre said that Praxiteles (Greek sculptor) used to choose the best elements from a hundred imperfect models in order to create a masterpiece… When you do something, you have to think about antiquity. In 2 weeks after this news, Monet left the lessons, moreover, in 2 years, in 1864, Gleyre’s workshop was closed. Monet went with his friends to the village near Barbizon, to draw plein air paintings. In the same place, Monet completed his first large painting “Luncheon on the grass” (in french: Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe ) in plein air. At first, it was with the owner of the apartment because Monet could not pay his rent, but when the painting was finally redeemed , he, because of remarks and more because of self-criticism, divided the painting into three parts.
In 1866, Monet’s portrait of his future wife, Camille Doncieux, “Camille (The Woman in the Green Dress) “ brought Monet the first recognition. On the second day of the exhibition, Monet woke up already famous — the young, passionate Emile Zola silenced all critics and gave the highest evaluations to portrait.
Claude Monet, born in Paris on November 14, 1840, baptized as Oscar, died on December 6, 1926. He witnessed the death of both his wives -Camille died in 1879, and his second wife, Alice Raingo Hoschedé in 1911 , and his eldest son’s death (in 1914)- Jean’s body was buried in the land of Giverny, and his name lives on forever.
From the 60s to the 90s, Claude Monet worked on multi-figure compositions, still lifes, portraits and landscapes, and from the 90s until his death, he pursued only landscape painting.
Influence of the Romantics, Claude Monet can be said to be lucky that the romantics were his predecessors, because the practice of putting colors on top of each other was introduced by them and even now is remained for posterity. Monet thoroughly studied the works of the romantics, the artist used the experiences of Delacroix, Aivazovsky, Turner, Constable and others. The French artist also used the Renaissance as inspiration and considered Impressionism to be a reproduction of the Renaissance. Moreover, the artist was also in Algeria for military service, the African colors he saw there made a great impression on him. In the fullness of time All this helped him a lot in refining the light and shadows, getting new colors and creating contrasts.
Impressionism
“Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.”-Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a French artist of the twentieth century, who is considered the founder of impressionism. Indeed, Monet, together with Manet, Renoir and Pissarro, created a completely new movement in painting. It is also worth noting that Monet first got the idea of impressionistic painting during his trip to England, when he saw how street artists painted in the depths of nature.
Claude-Oscar Monet is the driving force behind the pictorial transformation that gave rise to Impressionism as a new movement. He paints as he lives: with passion and sacrifice. Pushing knowledge and experimentation to the limit, Monet turns the wildest dreams into reality. For example, such is his famous `Water Lilies (1919) , where the combination of exotic flowers and water creates an amazing sight, which the artist immortalizes on his last canvases. Gifted with creative energy, no painting is ambitious enough for Monet, that is why he creates such paintings, which have gained a special place in the art of the 20th century.
According to impressionist artists, objects already exist in our mind, in our imagination. It is enough to give them a small hint, and they will immediately come to life. That is why it is not necessary to convey everything in detail, because it further alienates the relationship between us and the presented objects. This happened in the literature as well. In this way, artists trust the reader or viewer more. They don’t describe every picture as accurately as Victor Hugo. For example, let’s recall the Georgian impressionist writer Niko Lortkipanidze, Who stands out for his artistic style such as short sentences and for the opportunity for the reader to enable the fantasy. After all, this finally gives us more opportunities to complete the picture ourselves, because it, drawn by our impressions, will be closer to our personality than every detail meticulously conveyed by the writer.
The letters of the elderly Monet completely debunk legends about Impressionism, as if the Impressionists only capture nature with the first impression for purely spectacular purposes and do not need to know what they are depicting. According to Monet, an impression, a momentary flashback, a series of dynamic changes of an event have meaning only when they are conveyed on the basis of knowledge of the regularities of the real world: “No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.”- Monet
Impressionists used to dedicate series to one subject, and Claude Monet is no exception. It is well known that the French artist was very fond of painting water lilies, he even devoted an entire cycle of works to this theme. Water lilies express calmness and harmony of nature as a single, inhuman, given situation : “Water Lilies’ are an extension of my life. Without the water the lilies cannot live, as I am without art.” –monet. The artist has painted so many similar paintings ( approximately 250 oil paintings of water lilies ) that we can even consider his water lilies or winter landscapes ( 29 paintings) as a separate genres in his career.
It is perhaps easy to notice that this painting by Monet does not have any subtext as a leitmotif, nor is it distinguished by a deep philosophical thought. It simply describes the beauty of nature outside of us, and bright colors seem to make reality even more beautiful.
Impressionists used a specific style, which involves applying the brush with short strokes. Drawing in this way shows the figures indistinctly and vaguely, but when using this method, there is no mixing of paints. While the artist wants to outline the silhouette completely, he/she has to make slow and unsharp strokes with a brush, At this moments, there is process of a transition of paints into each other- mixing, which can make the color lose its sharpness.
Bright color is the main characteristic of Impressionism and, of course, Monet also uses this technique. It is worth noting that, after the establishment of Impressionism, rougher, pointed, brush and factory-made compact paints were created to make them more convenient for artists to carry.
Monet, like other Impressionists, refused to use strict green and gray colors. He rejected the description of landscapes in a traditional style. He used more sunny, bright, “glittering”, sometimes colorful colors. Using this method, the Impressionists are able to paint a vase of water, a scanty curtain, sunbeams shining on water, soap bubbles (Edouard Manet — “Boy with Soap Bubbles”) or other faint objects. “Monet, with a scientific precision, has given us an unparalleled and unexcelled record of the passing of time as seen in the movement of light over identical forms.” Helen Gardner, Art through the Ages, p. 669
impressionism is an era that existed only for 15 years, but forever remembered itself to humanity. Etymologically, the word comes from the French “impression”, which means impression. Therefore, even if we had not seen paintings made in this style, we could conclude that impressionists do not paint feelings, human beginnings ,destinations, stories depicting the relationship with God, ancient or religious figures, they do not know the concepts: “I realized”, “I got to know”, “Understood”, the main thing for these artists was to describe the harmony of nature and people. obviously, it is rational that the next stage of realism was impressionism, Because this genre of art also describes life issues and elements of life for instance, a whole series of paintings describes a woman who has just come out of the bath, drying different parts of her body, Impressionism, on the one hand, is devoid of all philosophical ideas, and instead, is a period that evokes the feeling of gentle colors and only positive emotions in the observer. And still, The connecting chain between realism and impressionism, in my opinion, is completelycrystal clear and logical.
Monet’s paintings
On this painting — “Jeanne-Marguerite Lecadre in the Garden“, we can readily say that the mission that Monet aspired to fulfill the most, has been accomplished. The artist uses impressive color gamut and proficiently executed light and shadows. Monet’s love for nature can also be felt in this painting, it is impossible that the artist did not love nature, otherwise he would never have managed to convey the beauty of nature with such mastery.
Even with this painting “Coquelicots” (Poppies), (with the imprecise outline of the figures) we can discern what style of painting Monet used. Not only do people not have precise outlines, but even other figures are more or less blurred. Claude Monet painted people less often in general, but this painting stands out because it features several people.
Perhaps all of us notice that “Garden Path at Giverny” by Monet does not have any subtext as a leitmotif, nor is it distinguished by a deep philosophical thought. It simply describes the beauty of nature outside of us, and bright colors seem to make reality even more beautiful.
Impression, Sunrise (French: Impression, soleil levant) 1872
The artist painted “Impression, Sunrise” in 1872, from a natural background (the area of the old port of Le Havre, France). The mentioned painting gave rise and encapsulated to the movement of Impressionism. The picture depicts an episode of day and night “breaking up”. For the first time, Impression, soleil levant was seen by the general public in the former studio of the photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, also known as Nadar. One of the attendant of the exhibition , journalists and playwright Leroy Leroy wrote a review (“The Exhibition of the Impressionists”) for the newspaper Le Charivari , that this picture laid the foundation for a new artistic movement and also that journalist was the one who first used impressionism to describe new “trend”. In 1985, the canvas was stolen and found only 5 years later.
Camille Monet on Her Deathbed, 1879 by Claude Monet
It is known that Camille and Claude were an amazing couple. unfortunately they were living in extreme poverty. When Claude was shunned and scorned by the artistic elite of that time, Camille was the person who always stood by his side, encouraged him and was always with him. But Monet’s love story was heading towards a tragic end. After giving birth to second child -Michel , Camille was sick, weakened and eventually died. It is said that “Woman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son” (French: La Promenade) depicits her and their son.
When he died, in one of the letters he sent to his friend, Claude writes : “I found myself staring at [my wife’s] tragic countenance, automatically trying to identify the sequence, the proportion of light and shade in the colors that death had imposed on [her] immobile face. Shades of blue, yellow, gray, and I don’t know what. . . . In spite of myself, my reflexes drew me into the unconscious operation that is but the daily order of my life. Pity me, my friend.” In the end, Monet painted this amazing work, which maybe causes us a disturbing feeling but at the same time and shows us what death really is.
