Claude Monet is an outstanding impressionist painter of the 19th century. His paintings surprise with their freshness and naturalism. Monet wrote very lively, was attentive to the smallest details and masterfully conveyed the color scheme.
Impressionism
Art historians around the world consider Claude Monet one of the iconic representatives of the movement, called "impressionism." This trend in world painting was created by several artists and quickly became widespread in Europe. The main idea of the school of impressionists was to convey the impression that the landscape made right on the spot. Previously, artists worked in workshops, painting non-existent landscapes or some things from memory. A new direction broke stereotypes about painting in general.
Claude Monet: the beginning of the road
Impressionists refreshed landscape painting and made it more realistic, albeit in return for the detail and "licking" of the composition. The naturalness of the paintings of such artists fascinates more than the decorative fantasies of the early masters. Claude Monet did not immediately join the Impressionists, because of his age. As a young man, he met one of the founders of the school - Eugene Boudin. This man went for a walk with Monet and helped learn to draw from life. Despite the difference in age, Eugene saw talent in Monet, and both artists were at the same time teachers for each other.
About the series of paintings "Rouen Cathedral"
Rouen Cathedral is not only a work of art architecture. This is also the name of a series of stunning works by the French artist Claude Monet. His paintings are like many copies of photographs, each of which was applied some kind of filter. However, if you look closely, you can find many differences. In each work, the cathedral is depicted differently than in the previous one. The whole point is lighting. At different times of the day, the light source - the sun - is located at different points in the vault of heaven. Lighting the composition of the cathedral in different ways, the luminary changes the arrangement of shadows on the building, creating bizarre shapes.
It is impossible to imagine how much the artist loved this miracle of architecture if he painted so many paintings with his image. From the paintings of Monet, the cathedral appears before the viewer completely different: mysterious, lost or confident, funny. Weather conditions change the atmosphere of the picture, and with it the mood that the artist conveys.
Creativity in the fate of Claude Monet
Besides the facts, the human factor influences any work of art . So, an artist in a bad mood will never write a light joyful picture. In the series "Rouen Cathedral" you can not only imagine the quirks of the weather in the city, but also the state of mind of Claude Monet.
The life period during which the work on the Cathedral took place was extremely difficult for the painter. He doubted, but still worked for several years. Sometimes Monet did not finish his work on the spot, but finished it in the workshop. However, this did not make his paintings less lively and impressive. After all, the main task of Monet, like his friends in the art school, was to convey the impression, impressione.
The artist wanted to show how indistinguishable the line between light and shadow is, how the rays of the sun can refract, bizarrely change the shape of stone, non-modifiable, arches, buttresses and towers. Indeed: many find it difficult to understand how the same color can acquire different shades under different lighting conditions. For example, the work of "Rouen Cathedral" Claude Monet calls into question the concept of color, thereby challenging his time.
Cathedral on a sunny day
The paintings, where the cathedral is bright, are painted in the afternoon. Depending on the sun and mood, Monet puts strokes of yellow, bluish, ultramarine "reflexes" on the walls of the cathedral. If you look carefully - the buildings in the "sunny" paintings consist of continuous spots of light of different colors and shades. Monet's mastery lies in the fact that he managed to convey the form without using contours or a sufficient amount of shadow. The artist simply sketched a lot of sunshine - and the beautiful paintings of the series "Rouen Cathedral" turned out. Claude Monet wrote lively, assertively, and his emotions are conveyed to the audience.
Foggy Monet Pictures
Studying the series of Claude Monet, dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral, you can notice that the artist really liked the magical time of day, called twilight. The artist depicted Rouen Cathedral mysterious, lost in the morning fog. This light, translucent haze gives the building a romantic feel. Sometimes the haze so envelops the cathedral that all shades become pastel, barely distinguishable. However, the lack of contrast here is on purpose. Violet, blue, purple and warm yellow shades smoothly shimmer, creating a feeling of soft radiance ... In the morning paintings, the cathedral looks like a real holy place.
Overcast
Cathedral before the rain, performed by Claude Monet - a special work of art. There are almost no warm shades in this picture: only cold gray and bluish. Here and there brown arches are visible. It seems as if the cathedral was not built of stone, but woven from hundreds of thunderclouds that could rain at any moment. Monet's strokes resemble heavy drops that are about to fall from heaven. The cloudy sky hanging over the building seems very heavy, just like the lines of the architectural elements of the cathedral.
Evening cathedral
Monet's Rouen Cathedral is the clearest example of impressionism. In the paintings painted in the afternoon, towards evening, there is much more sadness than in others. Monet uses reddish and copper shades to depict the evening etudes of the cathedral. Sometimes there are shades of only one color: red, blue or brown, buffy.
Harmony in brown tones - a gloomy image of the cathedral "against the light." All the details of the structure are in the shade and partial shade, and a light yellow bright sky stands out in the background. The contrasts of the picture and the simultaneous combination of all shades are delightful.