Oscar-Claude Monet (Born 14 November 1840) and died 5 December 1926. He is one of the most famous artists in France, one of the representatives and founders of Impressionism.
Much of the theory and practice of Impressionism had his generalization. Monet excelled in the experimentation and expression of light and shadow. His most important style was to change the way shadows and contour lines were drawn, and in Monet's paintings there were no very clear shadows, nor were there any prominent or flat-painted contour lines. The color depiction of light and shadow is the greatest feature of Monet's paintings.
The Impressionist movement is seen as the pinnacle of the naturalistic school of the 19th century and as the starting point of modern art. Although the founder of Impressionism is Manet, it is Monet who really makes it flourish, because Monet's depiction of the changes in the color of light and shadow in landscape painting has reached the point of obsession. Monet consistently poured his creative enthusiasm into Impressionist techniques.
Monet has long explored the expressive effects of light and air, often depicting the same object many times at different times and under light, expressing the instantaneous feeling of light and color from the natural change of light and color. Two inconspicuous haystacks in the field, under Monet's brush, take on a captivating light-colored effect.
In the work, the contrast of color brightness in the dark part of the hay stack is not strong, mainly through the contrast between cold and warm colors to shape volume and space.
The color used in the dark part is much higher than that used in classical painting, and the color is more subjective and the color is clearly recognizable. The pure color relationship makes the dark part of the work transparent and rhythmic.
On May 14, 2019, French Impressionist painter Claude Monet's Haystack was auctioned at Sotheby's in New York for a record-breaking $110.7 million.
Monet's Garden is located in the small town of Giverny, 70 km west of Paris, France. At the end of April 1883, when Monet passed through the town by train, he was fascinated by the tranquil atmosphere and decided to settle here and buy a piece of land to build his own garden. Monet was very fond of painting his garden views, often painting small bridges, water lilies, poppies, etc. in his own garden.
Monet could often tap into the ordinary landscape. He observes the scenery in detail and is very sensitive to changes in light. He can paint more than a dozen works on the same scene. And this is only to study the different weather and different appearances in the same scene under the light, which is difficult for other painters to do.
Comparing this work with the previous work, it can be seen that the overall color of the picture is brighter and the dark color is more transparent. Strong color contrast can make the picture appear more solid and visually impactful. The weak color contrast relationship can make the picture appear softer, rich in a bit of romantic color atmosphere.
In 1909, Monet exhibited his 48 Paintings of fortune painted between 1903 and 1908 at the Durand-Luell Gallery, which he himself named: "Water Lilies, Water Features Series". The exhibition was a great success. The works on display are dated only and have no title.
Journalists and literary critics commented: "All these dazzling paintings exude perfect harmony, both vibrant and gentle and serene. We were dumbfounded. But I can't help but think that these moving works that are really one and complementary are about to be scattered everywhere, and they are only gathered together for a short time to give people a whole concept, so that people can feel all the poetry they express.
From now on, people will never see them gather anywhere as we do now. They will be scattered around the world, they will still be exquisite, but each painting will only show part of the mystery... Of course, we prefer to see them all in a certain exhibition room of the museum, so that people can admire them and enjoy their magnificent and tranquil and unparalleled pictures. ”
From these water lilies, it can be seen that Monet's use of color for lotus ponds is more and more pure and bold, while the relationship between the shape of lotus flowers and lotus leaves is quite general.
Putting aside the color relationship to look at the shape, you will even feel that Monet's water lilies are very casually drawn, sloppy, and have a bit of the smell of children's graffiti.
In fact, it was Monet's seemingly childlike painting method that dealt a blow to the soul of the mainstream painting school at that time. It turns out that painting can also be played in this way, and it is decades of play.
When Monet was still living in Vitteny, northwest of Paris, he often practiced with flowers in the garden or indoors. From 1878 to 1883, he completed many still life paintings of flowers, including The Sunflower Bouquet.
In November 1888, Monet's "Sunflower Bouquet" participated in the Impressionist painting exhibition that year. Gauguin told Van Gogh the day after the exhibition that he had seen Monet paint a picture of a sunflower in a large Japanese vase, which was very well painted. Van Gogh said he preferred his own Sunflower.
As Van Gogh said, Van Gogh's "Sunflower" has become a world famous painting. I personally think that the main differences between Van Gogh and Monet's "sunflowers" are:
Monet's "sunflower" is based on the pure painting object as the body, the change of light and shadow color produced by the light on the sunflower. The beauty of Monet's "sunflower" lies in the light color, and this beauty is mainly the visual beauty of the outside of the picture.
Van Gogh's "sunflower" is also based on the pure painting object as the body, the difference is that Van Gogh is not interested in light and shadow, he pays more attention to the spiritual temperament penetrated by the external image of the painting body, and uses this as the core to depict the object. Van Gogh's "sunflower" beauty is the spiritual beauty reflected in the external image of the sunflower itself. This kind of beauty is the inner beauty of the artist's resonance with the picture, and sometimes it exists in the consciousness of the audience outside the painting.
Impression Sunrise, monet also painted several paintings, depicting the artist watching the sunrise over the French port city of Afort through the mist. The painting was exhibited at the First Joint Exhibition of Impressionists, which opened on March 25, 1874, and was borrowed by critics to mock a group of young painters represented by Monet who demanded innovation and creation as "Impressionism", which was named after Impressionism.
Just from the traces of painting to see "Impressions. Sunrise", this work is more like an unfinished draft, and the painting process is also very hasty. This work is one of Monet's representative works and has long become a world famous painting. Why is that?
First of all, we must look at this problem from a historical point in time. Although Monet was not a pioneer of Impressionism, Monet's Impressions. "Sunrise" is a pioneer in new ways of painting. Monet used it as a weapon to fight against the mainstream school of painting and pushed it onto the big stage of art.
Secondly, Impressions. "Sunrise" is not "pig nose with green onions". It expresses the instantaneous sense of color presented by the harbor scenery in a short period of time. This state is encounterable and unattainable, and even If Monet himself repeats the painting, he may not be able to reproduce it.
Impressions. The picture of "Sunrise" feels like the ink painting in Chinese painting, which has already begun in China's Tang Dynasty.
Monet's other oil paintings are appreciated.