The Era of Impressionism
At the Getty Museum, we first did a self-tour, after lunch we joined a couple of the museum tours.
Our guide of the “Era of Impressionism” chose two of Claude Monet’s paintings for this tour. One was Sunrise (Marine) that Monet portrayed the industrial port of Le Havre of France.
Later of the day, I checked my iPhone and saw the “Fondation Beyeler – Monet 23” on my WP reader. The post was about Monet’s Charing Cross Bridge by Dr. Hb. I thought it was a nice coincidence.
Monet used the same effect of sunlight and diffused fog shimmering on the water for both Sunrise and Charing Cross Bridge, one is an industrial city (London) and the other is an industrial port (Le Havre).
This is how Dr. Hb describes this painting:
“Charing Cross Bridge, Fog on the Thames. Monet was in London at the turn of the century and painted the foggy atmosphere like a man possessed. This work, one of many on the Charing Cross bridge typify his treatment of the subject. The fog envelopes and blurs everything. The sun seems weak and almost impotent, it’s color and warmth circumscribed to its disk and a faint stain on the waters of the Thames. It’s high up in the sky, so it’s not early morning and yet the mists reign unabated. Through all that though, three things, three man-made creations come through to us: a chimney, a boat, and the bridge. Is there smoke in the air as well? Will that boat shine brighter as it moves into the sun-dappled patch?”
He has posted 27 Monet’s paintings for 27 days. Each painting was eloquently described. I was glad I didn’t miss this series when we were on vacation. The first one is here.
Thanks to Dr. Hb for giving me the permission to use the photo and the quote.
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Louis Leroy (an art critic) declared that Monet’s painting was at most, a sketch, and could hardly be termed a finished work.
An unflattering critic on Monet’s paintings by Leory has now become the name of one of the most influential art movements in history. How unusual.
To see J.M.W. Turner’s (an English Romanticist landscape artist) Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino next to the Sunrise by Monet at the museum was unexpected. The guide explained that Turner’s interest in evanescent light exerted an influence on Impressionism, and Monet carefully studied Turner’s techniques.
