LaGrenouillere, Claude Monet

  In the summer of 1869 the famous French Impressionists Claude Monet and August Renoir set up their easels at La Grenouillere, a boating and bathing resort on the Seine River, near Paris. Both artists produced paintings at this site, and here we have Monets.  This oil is now part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.   It measures 29"x 39".
   This image is typical of impressionism:  it was painted outdoors and on site, it features loose, but carefully placed brushwork, and highlights everyday people enjoying a day's pleasures.   The composition is interesting.  Here again the main focal point is at the exact center will all lines of the boats, dock, and right structure leading to it.  Even the curvature of the water strokes seem to form a pattern circling around the center little island.   Notice how the rear landscape helps us determine time of day and season of year.   They are sunlit while the foreground is shaded, possibly meaning it is late afternoon.  And, the color of the leaves could mean it is early autumn, but still warm enough for swimming.
   Monet never used black.  His dark areas are always deep shades of color deepened with a its complement so the paint did not loose it's intensity as it deepened.  Thus Monet's paintings have a radiance and beauty to them, reflective of true outdoors scenes.   It took this new style of painting a time to catch on in 19th century France, but once it did, Monet enjoyed huge success during his lifetime.   A success which continues to this day.
  Make Art a part of your day, it's a beautiful thing to do.

 

Comments

  1. charguthNovember 20, 2019 at 2:50 PM

    How could I not like this with all the "green"! It seems like his palette could be limited to yellow and blue. The reflections on the water are just stunning. The boats direct our attention to the "island", and I find it interesting how he painted the trees in the distance loosely, and let them high light the foreground. The island intrigues me. It looks like it's floating but it must be stable. (So the people can stay upright!) It's a beautiful, joyful day.

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