Claude Monet- The water Lily pond Flashcards
location
National Gallery (London)
medium
oil on canvas
date
1899
Monet childhood
- Born in Paris, the son of a grocer.
- He grew up in Le Havre.
when did monet gain contact with Eugine Boudin
*Contact with Eugene Boudin in about 1856 introduced Monet to painting from nature.
where did monet train
*1860s he trained in the studio of academician Charlies Gleyre, where he met like-minded artists such as Renoir, Sisley and Bazille.
what movement was monet a part of
Leading French Impressionist landscape painter. He exhibited in most of the Impressionist exhibitions
when did monet move to giverny
*In 1883, Monet moved to Giverny, where he lived until his death.
*There, on the grounds of his property, he created a vast and spectacular garden which became the main source of inspiration for his paintings.
how did monet garden his house in giverny, and when did he buy the plot across the road
*With a painter’s eye, Monet thoughtfully arranged plants according to colour and height. He liked the flowerbeds to be dense and abundant. Monet was an enthusiastic gardener and did most of the gardening himself.
*In 1892 Monet bought a piece of land across the road from his house for an ambitious project – to create a water garden “for the purpose of cultivating aquatic plants”. Diverting a small stream, he formed a pool and surrounded it with an artful arrangement of flowers, reeds, willow trees and bushes. The surface of this pond was covered with waterlilies.
*Over this he built a green, wooden, arched footbridge in the Japanese style (though Japanese bridges are more commonly red – a sacred colour representing wisdom, transformation. It is also heavily intertwined with Zen, and so further encourages the individual to reject their attachment to physical things on their journey across the bridge).
how many paintings did monet make of the japanese bridge
*In 1899 alone, Monet produced 12 paintings of the Japanese bridge that spanned his water garden.
what plants lined the water gardens banks
*The water garden’s banks were lined with poppies, agrimony, blue sage, dahlias and irises. Bamboos and water lilies were imported to thrust up from its waters. The water lilies became a central motif in Monet’s work.
monet’s plant pallette for the water garden process
-In 1894 Monet ordered water lilies, bamboo and 16 varieties of plants for his water garden. : Time when bamboo was being bred for all climates. The structure, year-round interest and hardiness of bamboo created great interest in the water garden at Giverny.
-ordered water lilies from the Latour-Marliac nursery – where Joseph Latour-Marliac had successfully produced a hybrid pink water lily in 1879
-The pond was fed by the River Ru, and weeping willow and silver birch hung over its edges.
how did the garden become a study of reflection and movement
*The water garden became a fascinating point of study for Monet. The reflections of light on the surface of the water and the movement, for example, of an unseen fish became an obsession.
techniques
-Heavy impasto of the paint.
-Employed hatching, cross-hatching, stippling and dry-brushing.
-Visible, rapidly applied brushstrokes.
-Small commas of pure colour, one next to another.
*Short, thick strokes of paint in order to capture the essence of each thing depicted rather than the detail.
*Quickly applied brushstrokes give then impression of movement and spontaneity.
impasto
-Heavy impasto of the paint.
colour
*Intensity of colour and beauty of colour harmonies throughout the painting.
*Use of pure, intense colours.
*Layers of colour, leaving gaps to reveal the colour beneath.
plants in the painting
The space is crowded with plants, without a horizon and without a sky.
*The painting contains an abundance of plants: the trees around the pond enclose it completely, the water lilies nearly fill the water surface, the bridge arches over it.
*The rich expanse of foliage presents an overwhelming riot of perfectly planned wildness.
bridge in the painting
-Symmetrical placing of the bridge.
-Bridge in profile.
-The strong vertical rhythm of the bars of the bridge contrast with the water lilies that seem to expand horizontally.
flattening of the plane
-bridge in profile
- The flattening of the picture plane and the tightly cropped and contained view display a compositional debt to Japanese artists Hiroshige and Hokusai.
cropping
tightly cropped and contained view display a compositional debt to Japanese artists Hiroshige and Hokusai.
*The contained view also offers the viewer no choice but to give in to nature’s beauty and the abundance of plants.
feautures in the painting that are influenced by ‘japanisme’
*In the construction of the bridge and water garden, Monet was influenced by Japanese prints and garden design.
-The flattening of the picture plane and the tightly cropped and contained view display a compositional debt to Japanese artists Hiroshige and Hokusai.
- japanese bridge encourages the individual to reject their attachment to physical things on their journey across the bridge, heavily intertwined with zen
*He planted flowers he saw in Japanese prints.
-bamboo
Japonisme influence
*At the end of the 19th century in Paris, all things Japanese were very much in vogue, particularly among the arts, so much so that Jules Claretie coined the term “japonisme” in 1872 to describe the phenomenon.
*Monet never visited Japan, but learned of its culture through its art.
*He might have seen Japanese gardens on view at the Universal Exposition in 1889 (though these were very different), and he collected Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints with images of bridges.
*In the construction of the bridge and water garden, Monet was influenced by Japanese prints and garden design.
*He planted flowers he saw in Japanese prints.
influence of stephane mallarmé
*His greatest influence, though, was perhaps the poet Stéphane Mallarmé (they first met in in 1886 and saw each other often after that).
Mallarme was at the centre of artistic influence in Paris and Monet became part of his circle.
In 1885 Mallarme had invited Monet to illustrate his prose poem ‘The White Water Lily’, and although he did not fulfill the commission, it clearly made a lasting impression on him. Monet’s water garden is so close to Mallarme’s poem, that its construction in 1893 must have been influenced by it.
process
*Painted en plein air. The invention of the paint tube (1841) made this easier.
*Monet was often surrounded by a dozen canvases which he quickly rotated as time passed. He gloried in the sunlight; the rain would drive him to angry tears.
-made it easier to show the changing atmospheric points of the day.
The representation of quickly shifting light and the changing atmospheric conditions.
changing atmospheric conditions
-achieved through en plein air
-The representation of quickly shifting light and the changing atmospheric conditions.
*Quickly applied brushstrokes give then impression of movement and spontaneity. Rapidity suggests fastly changing atmosphere blending together
how was a sense of movement created b
*Short, thick strokes of paint in order to capture the essence of each thing depicted rather than the detail.
*Quickly applied brushstrokes give then impression of movement and spontaneity.
