Stylistic divergence parallels the emotional one. The piece you see below is evidently realistic; it exploits the little light there is to create a rather anemic pattern (apparently the cow’s shadow) on the ground, while the darker details (particularly in the background) receive strained attention — shadow is king, light is only the page. The artist makes a virtue out of necessity and veers towards realism where impressionism would suffocate due to lack of natural illumination. The other two works, however, can be categorized as impressionistic with nearly the same certainty. Light dethrones shade, which recedes into the hangar’s belly or disappears altogether, and adds characteristic distortions: amplifies close subjects and misshapes them slightly into somewhat generalized types.

It’s interesting how the rural environment, though including a fence, seems compact yet welcoming, as opposed to the vast industrial spaces, which nevertheless cast a claustrophobic sense of no escape. The animal stands undisturbed where grass grows under its hooves, but is constantly on the move — as if on a production line — in enclosed settings. Indeed, the freedom of choice of feed, one of the few liberties domesticated animals may have, appears to have been denied of the animals in industrial farms. Perhaps the random patterns on the cows’ skins may be seen as a protest; a chaotic antidote to the mechanical horizontal and vertical lines of the fences and the supporting pillars.

I think that in these paintings the artist probes into the basic instinct of freedom, common to all animals, including humans. The wide areas with overhanging metal and wood restrict the inhabitants from all directions, and our instinctive reaction of shrinking back when looking (or visiting) can be explained simply: we would not want to live there. We don’t ask the cows… but maybe they can provide some food — for thought too?

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Field of Poppies Buy From Art.com

The above painting reveals three spatial levels: the poppies in the foreground, followed by the trees in the middle and the mountain range and the sky in the background. (the following discussion relates to a variation of the above painting, not available on art.com) The sky is mostly clear, and the few clouds are dispersed in such a way as to welcome the viewers and drag them into the experience; the clouds also mark the perspective, substituting a path, that would disrupt the pristine looking meadow. Their very convenient allocation leads me to question whether the artist incorporated them for these particular needs, or simply copied what was in the sky on the canvas. Since it is customary to assume that nothing is accidental in art, I will state that this was the artist’s plan — and its obviousness in this painting makes the piece an intellectual feat. The artist’s hand is visible along with his mind.

Field of Poppies at Vetheuil Buy From Art.com

The next painting displays a different kind of forethought: the poppy field appears so strictly rectangular as to once again imply human intervention and care, in either form. Also, the rectangular shape replicates exactly the groomed fields I have seen on various city squares. All of these peculiarities add up and raise the viewers’ awareness of the extent to which the artist’s mental faculties are involved in the process of painting, additionally to the spiritual inspirational forces. The purpose of my emphasis on the mind’s part in painting is to indicate how the viewers’ mind, correspondingly, becomes the main actor in modern appreciation of these works of art.

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I believe that the additional aesthetic value arises from the consciousness of the contemporary viewer. As I already mentioned, city people have not got the opportunity, or the will, to indulge in such views. Thus, this painting, additionally to the traditional impressionistic accreditation, can also be categorized as romantic, the subject of romanticism being nature. This may seem like a blunt anachronistic judgment, but for this piece to make sense, it has got to be viewed in wider — or longer — temporal context. If I inject the city into the interpretation and the meaning(going forth in time), then, including in it another, paradoxically a chronologically inverse style of painting(going back in time), is the next logical step. It makes sense to compensate for an future interpretative layer with a past stylistic one: two anachronisms cancel each other out. On the one hand, perhaps we are to pity for the fact that we seek in art what we are losing in nature but, on the other hand, the art we look at becomes richer with urban meaning. You win some, you lose some… I can’t shake off a bittersweet nostalgic feeling, but at least it is reciprocated by the paintings in front of me.

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Water Lily Pond-Pink Harmony Buy From Art.com

There are various levels of complexity in water scenes, and Monet gradually mastered all of them, creating dozens of paintings and establishing himself as a canonical figure in this particular sub-genre. You may find a more comprehensive outlook on the artist’s development in Making a Mark. My goal would be to try and focus on a few paintings, where the artist employs his famous “harmonies.” I would also mention, not without some content mixed with an “I told you so” feeling, that landscape once again proves to be the optimal subject matter for Monet’s style. The arching bridge emphasizes this point more than anything else: a plain structure that blends with the surroundings is the antithesis to the heavy cathedral.

Water Lily Pond and Bridge Buy From Art.com

Looking at water had always induced a hypnotizing effect on me, almost as strong as looking at fire. And that is not because I like looking at my own reflection (though I might have some narcissistic tendencies) — it is the other objects trapped in the glassy surface, constantly changing shape and never the same that attract me, almost dragging me along with them. Hence I judge these painting according to the degree with which they replicate said effect; on a side note, since the water pond series are basically a variation on a single theme, it is possible — and probably needed — to speak of them resumptively, as one painting.

Water Lily Pond, Harmonie… Buy From Art.com

So, that degree is high, and the illusion of reflection is very believable. Colors dominate the water without reservations, boldly echoing the “originals” rising above the pond, though there are some occasional black areas that portray the water itself. It appears that there is clash taking place on the surface: the lilies, which inhabit the locus vs. the reflections of the willows and of the air above and between the trees. Accordingly, the flowers float in horizontally expanding islands, while the mirrored parts spread vertically. As a result, a complex visual net is created, which, in turn, contributes to the authenticity of the mirroring effect.

The Water Lily Pond and B… Buy From Art.com

It is interesting to notice that the same clash occurs above the surface too, the upward stretching trees countering the bridge and vice versa; the land and the pond reflect each other thematically as well as physically. It is a pleasure to figure out the artistic logic behind the bridge: doubled vertical lines need a similar counteraction — and the lilies together with the structure provide it. As a result, the painting exhibits a lulling harmony. The unified distribution of color accompanies it, adding a quiet, underlying rhythm to the luscious garden in front our eyes. Looking at these paintings is never tiring, as the vista, which opens up before the viewers, coils idly, lures them in again and again — into Monet’s world.

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The next thing that comes to mind is the even number of the trees. Not only the stripped poplars are repelling, but there are also four of them, which is not easy to process aesthetically. Had there been a fifth tree, the scene would not have appeared so monotonous and even more inescapable. The occasional growth on the trunks does nothing to assuage this perception; on the contrary, it may be enhancing it even further, as petty distraction from the grim situation. The slight curve in two of the central trees makes up for it only, well, slightly. But there is another line of trees in the distance that succeeds at least partially in delivering the desired relief.

Poplars on the Banks of t… Buy From Art.com

Apparently, they are also poplars, the ones you see above, but in their blooming grandeur — the question to be asked is why the trees in the forefront are not blooming as well? It seems as though this was an intentional inaccuracy, aimed at displaying the trees in various seasonal effects (my book, “Impressions of Light,” claims that the autumnal effect below was painted in summer), which makes this piece more than just a landscape but a sophisticated compilation of changes in nature. As a side effect, the colorful area in the background softens the dark hues in the foreground.

Poplars on the Epte Buy From Art.com

It seems only logical to ask if including poplars from various seasons in one painting was a concession of sorts. If the artist went thus far to depict the darker side of nature, why would he want to prettify it, practically canceling the achieved fidelity? But the answer to this question lies in the question itself. If it is fidelity Monet was striving to achieve, than showing the same object in various conditions on the same canvas makes the representation only more accurate — though, by breaking the accepted norm of a single unified temporality. Eventually, the long term subverts the short term, and a more poetical and mental temporal unity is put forward instead of the strict traditional reproduction.

Poplars on the Epte River… Buy From Art.com

But let us examine the blooming trees — a sharp contrast to the gloomy counterpart, both in color, number, and effect. I like how they resemble giant dandelions; this comparison is particularly interesting as they both seem to grow a similar fuzz (no claims at botanical accuracy are made). The growth on the slender and elegant trunks, the same growth that accentuated the boldness of the thicker and darker ones, tastefully winds around the poplars as a secondary adornment. Additionally, the trees are divided into two groups, as to eschew any sign of unsavory repetition. This time, the line of trees in the background emerges as a mere echo, weak and superficial. The abovemost two pieces are so different, yet so similar thematically; I think that they compliment each other so strongly, as to make them the most tight and notionally inseparable series that Claude Monet ever produced.

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The Haystacks, End of Summer, Giverny… Buy From Art.com

There are two paths of examining the series: the main one, of hue, and the secondary, compositional, of the haystacks themselves. Taking either path will eventually lead to a junction that unites both, but one needs to go back and tread the second path, for a complete understanding of that junction and where it leads. However, as it is often said, it is the journey that matters, not the destination. Evaluating palette and composition in these series is a pleasure for its own sake.

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Color virtually vibrates — a quality inherently conditioned on time’s passing — and thus the artist injects temporal progression into the paintings. Along with the illusion of space, that makes the four dimensions that are at our disposal, and every piece becomes an animated representation employing all of them. Composition is minimal; despite the even number of the stacks, the difference in size (in perspective, to be more accurate) is so big that there are often, in fact, only one and a half similar objects on the canvas, relieving the viewer from monotony.

Haystacks, Pink and Blue Impressions,… Buy From Art.com

So what happens at the crossroad? It appears that color complements the radically modest composition by transcending the palette’s traditional role into a compositional part as well. Areas of color may be viewed as geometrical plains of various forms, much like in abstract art; they interact with each other, creating an additional, underlying compositional layer. Thus a synthesis of color and composition takes place, but on the terms of the latter element, as color works on a compositional level. Once again, Monet anticipates further stylistic developments, and he does it by fully exploring the possibilities of his own. He foreshadows abstract art, which stripped the two elements of their traditional accompaniments and made them into independent subjects.

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In most of them, the Gothic church is shown from the same angle; it is the colors that were the main subject of variation. By using unpredictable, sometimes improbable palette combinations — or “harmonies” — as the artist called them, Monet strove to capture the structure in different light and weather effects, some of which, I have to say, seem just as the colors, improbable and unpredictable. I certainly do not wish to contend Monet’s artistic logic, because impressionism has its own rules, and it was the man himself who invented them. Still, for someone uninitiated, there is considerable surprise involved, and my goal here will be to try and outline its origins from a fresh perspective.

Rouen Cathedral, Blue Har… Buy From Art.com

Impressionism is known for its precept to make the air present and visible — through light. Indeed, atmosphere is given an active role in the series: it can be hazy, foggy, cold or warm; subsequently, the cathedral can come across as mystical, enigmatic, deterring or welcoming. Every color finds an according response in the viewer’s emotional palette. And while this correspondence may be a commonplace truth, in the context where atmosphere is literally created by color, and works of art become figuratively atmospheric, seeking a matching sentiment in the viewer, it overcomes banality and steps into the territory of originality. It is the intense focus on hue and its emotional corollary that marks the series — and impressionism — as original.

Rouen Cathedral in the Af… Buy From Art.com

In a way, Monet finds a pure and nearly abstracted (not yet in the special stylistic meaning of the word) channel of communication through color. Perhaps that is why historically, impressionism may be considered as the first step towards abstraction as a painting style, distilling, purifying and prioritizing one particular element of the art. (I think that in the formalist theory this is called “foregrounding.”) However, what gave impressionism life was also the reason for its decline: there is not much ground for inter-disciplinary dialogue, for instance between color and composition, or color and line. One theme, in spite of its inherent richness, can be exhausted quickly. Thus, impressionism was a live active movement only during a period of twenty years or so, degenerating into a retrospective and “in the style of” art soon after.

Rouen Cathedral, the Port… Buy From Art.com

These paintings may appear difficult to approach: the cathedral is cramped into incomparably smaller dimensions, resulting in an almost brute intensity impending over the viewer from the structure’s mass of the material. This threat, though surmountable, leaves a mark on the viewer, and the paintings forge a relationship where they grab psychological control right from the start and keep it, until challenged by the viewer. I think that it is interesting to study how religious symbols retain influence after moving from one art form to another. Perhaps, they even amass more power and magnitude in the minds of people after the transposition, which, by itself, may be indirectly corroborating these symbols’ prophesied spiritual universality.

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