Claude Monet and the beauty of the atmosphere, the impossible
When the Impressionist painters first offered their pictures to the public eye in the 1870s, they were greeted with incomprehension and disapproval. Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise provided one critic with the key word for his pejorative article entitled "L'Exposition des Impressionnistes". Thus was born the name of an artistic movement, which by the turn of the century had established itself as pointing the way forward.
Claude Monet is regarded as the most important of the Impressionists. His landscapes are the embodiment of what is commonly thought of as Impressionist painting. Impressionist theory claims that we do not see an object as such, but rather the light in which it appears to us. Thus Monet, for instance, painted the portal of Rouen Cathedral at various times of day and under different weather conditions, showing us how the changing light affects its appearance.
In his paintings of the sea and of his motifs from nature - landscapes, flowers and ultimately the water lilies in his greatest pictures from Giverny - Monet sought to capture the instant of a particular natural manifestation. In his opinion, it was the task of the artist "to represent what stands between the object and the artist, which is the beauty of the atmosphere, the impossible". Through his paintings, Monet was to come closer than almost any other artist to this - admittedly unattainable - aim.
The Claude Monet portfolio features high quality prints that beg to be framed. Tucked in the portfolio are 14 large-format reproductions, each with a brief description.
Images included:
Houses of Parliament, Effect of Sunlight in the Fog, 1904
Water-Lilies, 1916-1919
Women in the Garden, 1867
Red Boats, Argenteuil, 1875
Poppies at Argenteuil, 1873
Water-Lily Pond, Symphony in Green, 1899
Pears and Grapes, 1880
Summer, 1874
Water-Lilies, Evening Effect, 1903
The Reader, 1872
The Luncheon, 1873
Woman with a Parasol (Facing left), 1886
The Cathedral in Rouen, The Portal, Harmony in Blue, 1893
Grainstacks, White Frost Effect, 1891
When the Impressionist painters first offered their pictures to the public eye in the 1870s, they were greeted with incomprehension and disapproval. Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise provided one critic with the key word for his pejorative article entitled "L'Exposition des Impressionnistes". Thus was born the name of an artistic movement, which by the turn of the century had established itself as pointing the way forward.
Claude Monet is regarded as the most important of the Impressionists. His landscapes are the embodiment of what is commonly thought of as Impressionist painting. Impressionist theory claims that we do not see an object as such, but rather the light in which it appears to us. Thus Monet, for instance, painted the portal of Rouen Cathedral at various times of day and under different weather conditions, showing us how the changing light affects its appearance.
In his paintings of the sea and of his motifs from nature - landscapes, flowers and ultimately the water lilies in his greatest pictures from Giverny - Monet sought to capture the instant of a particular natural manifestation. In his opinion, it was the task of the artist "to represent what stands between the object and the artist, which is the beauty of the atmosphere, the impossible". Through his paintings, Monet was to come closer than almost any other artist to this - admittedly unattainable - aim.
The Claude Monet portfolio features high quality prints that beg to be framed. Tucked in the portfolio are 14 large-format reproductions, each with a brief description.
Images included:
Houses of Parliament, Effect of Sunlight in the Fog, 1904
Water-Lilies, 1916-1919
Women in the Garden, 1867
Red Boats, Argenteuil, 1875
Poppies at Argenteuil, 1873
Water-Lily Pond, Symphony in Green, 1899
Pears and Grapes, 1880
Summer, 1874
Water-Lilies, Evening Effect, 1903
The Reader, 1872
The Luncheon, 1873
Woman with a Parasol (Facing left), 1886
The Cathedral in Rouen, The Portal, Harmony in Blue, 1893
Grainstacks, White Frost Effect, 1891
