Impression of light
‘Le
Parc Monceau’,
1878, (W 466),
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has many similar details in
common with the ‘River Scene’ – the triangular foreground, the
splashes from
the sun on the ground, and the foliage, with the light from the sky
breaking through. Please note, and compare, how the white patches of
colour are laid on,
duping us to see the light through the foliage.
Click
HERE for comparative details of the impression of
light through the foliage. |
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Click
HERE for a sunsplash comparison. |
See also how the
front of the house is built up by small parallel strokes, and
compare with the facade of the bridge.
Other examples where
this technique of Monet is found are: ‘Un
verger au Printemps’,1886,
(W.1065), ‘Le
Printemps’,1886,
Fitzwilliam Museum, USA,(W.1066) and “La Débâcle”, 1880, (W.570). Or
why not study ‘Poppy
field near Giverny’, 1885, 65x81,(W 1000), Museum of Fine
arts Boston – see how the red poppies cover the whole foreground and
then the field narrows off into the scene. We recognise our parallel
strokes strengthening the depth effect.
Click
HERE for detail comparison of painting technique
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At the Musée Marmottan,
in Paris, a great collection of the works by Claude Monet is
exhibited, given to the Museum by his son Michel Monet.
One of the paintings in the
collection is ‘The
Boat’,
146x133, (W 1154)
In his book ‘River of
Light’, Douglas Skeggs writes: “The Boat shows the ‘Norvègienne’
tethered to the shore beneath a fringe of foliage. Viewed from above
in the manner of a Japanese print, a solid wall of bottle green
water fills the picture, pushing the little hull into the upper
corner of the canvas and offering no horizon. The composition is top
heavy, but there is nothing unusual about this.
Most of Monet’s paintings
are designed this way; instead of placing the solid substance of the
land beneath an open expanse of sky, Monet had always preferred to
have it in the upper part of the canvas, with its image mirrored in
the water below. The paintings of the churches at Vernon and
Vétheuil, for example, all have the solid body of the buildings
riding above the fluid surface of the river.”
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