The great French impressionist painter Claude Monet ( Oscar-Claude Coin), (1840-1926) loved to paint flowers. He painted flowers throughout his life, at different periods of his work. More often garden and wildflowers, less often - cut flowers in vases.
Flowers were his passion. Monet said that most of all in life he adores two things: painting and gardening. Therefore, he experienced the greatest pleasure when he depicted flowers in his paintings.
He always painted even his family members surrounded by flowers, thereby emphasizing his sincere love to them.
“Perhaps it was thanks to flowers that I became an artist,” Claude Monet said about himself.
One of early works Claude Monet "Women in the Garden", 1866-1867, Orsay Museum, Paris.
The figures of women are depicted on this canvas in a very stylized manner. The artist places all the emphasis on the play of light and shadow, on the foliage of trees and flowers. Monet is still looking for his own style; there are still five years left before the official date of the birth of impressionism.
The model for all three women was 19-year-old Camille Doncier, the future wife of Claude Monet.
The canvas is very large, its dimensions are 2.05 by 2.55 m.
The artist intended to exhibit this painting at the Paris Salon in 1967, but the jury rejected him.
At the end of Claude Monet’s life, when he was already a recognized and renowned master, the French government bought the painting “Women in the Garden” from the artist in 1921 for 200 thousand francs.
Saint Andresse
| "Terrace at Sainte-Andresse", ca. 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This painting depicts the artist’s family, who lived in the small port town of Saint-Andresse near Le Havre on the coast of Normandy. Monet's father and his aunt Madame Lecadre are sitting in armchairs. Standing by the railing distant relative Monet Jeanne-Margarita with a young man. You could say it's a family scene set against a seascape. But look how the flowers in the foreground of the picture are drawn! How successfully Monet conveyed the texture of colors and the play of light and shadows. |
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| "Garden in Bloom at Sainte-Andresse", c. 1866, Orsay Museum, Paris. | |
| "Adolphe Monet reading in the garden of Le Coteaux at Saint-Andresse", c. 1866 |  |
| "Lady in the Garden", 1867, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. The painting depicts Claude Monet's distant relative Jeanne-Marguerite Lecadre in the garden at Sainte-Andresse. |
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Argenteuil, 1872 - 1977
Claude Monet always wanted to have his own garden, where he could work peacefully en plein air.
At the end of 1871, Claude Monet and his family settled in Argenteuil. Then it was a small resort village near Paris, 12 km from the city center, located on the picturesque banks of the Seine. Argenteuil is now part of Greater Paris. In Argenteuil, Monet had his own house and his first garden. It seems to me that it was in Argenteuil that they were created best paintings Claude Monet. This was the brightest period of his work. Monet’s paintings are generally light, but it is in Argenteuil that his canvases simply glow with joy. Apparently, these were the happiest years of his life. Almost all the paintings painted in Argenteuil depict Camille, Claude Monet's beloved first wife.
In those years, Argenteuil was a favorite vacation spot for Parisians; sailing regattas were regularly held there. Led to Argenteuil railway, getting there from Paris was quick and easy. Not only Monet, but also other impressionist artists Manet, Renoir, Sisley, Caillebotte painted their landscapes in Argenteuil.
| The artist's friend Renoir captured him at work in Argenteuil, and thanks to this we can see what Claude Monet's garden was like and how he painted en plein air. Pierre Auguste Renoir "Monet painting in his garden at Argenteuil", 1873 |
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| And Edouard Manet painted a family portrait of the artist against the background blooming garden. Edouard Manet "Monet's family in their garden at Argenteuil", 1874, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The painting depicts Claude Monet tending flowers, his wife Camille and son Jean. Garden, flowers and chickens. In 10 years, Claude Monet will have all this in Giverny. |
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| Pierre Auguste Renoir "Madame Monet and her son", 1974. National Gallery, Washington. Camille Monet and her son Jean. This painting was kept in the collection of Claude Monet in Giverny. Youngest son the artist Michel Monet sold it in 1952 during a period of complete devastation in Giverny. After several resales under the will of the last owner in 1970, this painting entered the National Gallery in Washington. |
| "The Artist's House in Argenteuil", 1873. Art Institute, Chicago. |  |
| "Monet's Garden at Argenteuil", 1873 |  |
| "Houses in Argenteuil", 1873, Old National Gallery, Berlin. In summer, Argenteuil was literally buried in flowers. |
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| "Flowers on the River Bank at Argenteuil", 1877, Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan. The Seine in Argenteuil is very picturesque, in this place it forms a beautiful bend. Claude Monet was fascinated by the river and nature of Argenteuil, he enthusiastically worked here in the open air. |
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| "Camille Monet on a bench in the garden." 1873 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. As always, a garden, and as always, flowers. |
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| "Jean Monet on a horse-bicycle." 1872 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Even when painting a portrait of his son, Claude Monet did not forget about flowers. All significant events He preferred to capture life on his canvases against a background of flowers. |
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| "In the meadow", 1876 The canvas depicts the artist’s wife Camille Monet reading a book in a meadow, surrounded by meadow flowers. |
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| "Apple trees in blossom", 1873. Amazing! |
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| "The Artist's Family in the Garden", 1875 |  |
| "In the Garden", 1875 This painting apparently depicts the same corner of the garden as the previous one, only a few months later - in the fall. |
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| "Woman with an Umbrella" ("Walking: Camille Monet with her son Jean"), 1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington. | |
| "Camille Monet with her son", 1875, Museum fine arts, Boston, USA. |  |
| "Garden Corner at Montgeron", approx. 1876, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Montgeron is a small town in the suburbs of Paris, located 18.5 km southeast of the city center. Now it is one of the southeastern suburbs of Paris. |
 "Woman with an umbrella in a garden at Argenteuil", 1875. |
 "Walk, Argenteuil", 1875. |
 "Walk in Argenteuil", 1875, Marmottan-Monet Museum, Paris. |
 "Garden", 1872. |
 "Camille Monet in the Garden", 1873. |
 "Camille Monet at the window. Argenteuil", 1873. |
 "Bank of the Seine near the bridge at Argenteuil", 1874. |
 "Camille and Jean Monet in the garden at Argenteuil", 1873. |
 "Camille Monet in the Garden of her House at Argenteuil", 1876, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
"Gladioli" OK. 1876. Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA. |
 "Girls in the Garden", 1875, National Gallery in Prague. |
 "Camilla with a Green Umbrella", 1876. |
 "Garden Gate at Vétheuil", 1876. |
 "Garden", 1876. |
 "Garden, Mallows", 1877. |
Very interesting series"Lilac". Compare:
Poppy fields
One of the most famous painting Claude Monet's "Field of Poppies" (1873, Orsay Museum, Paris) was painted in Argenteuil, not far from the artist's home. The painting depicts Monet's wife Camille and his son Jean. Presumably, his wife and son also served as models for the figures of the lady with the child in the background.
Look how expressively the artist painted scarlet poppies and yellow buttercups. Camille and Jean are literally buried in poppies, forming complete harmony with the nature of the sun summer day.
Monet chose a very good angle for his painting - scarlet poppies are located in the lower left part of the picture, diagonally along which Camille and Jean are walking. It feels like the poppies extend beyond the canvas.
Fields of poppies fascinated Monet. He returned to them several times in his work. He was attracted by the contrast of red poppies and green grass.
"Summer. Poppy field", 1875, private collection.
"Poppy field near Vetheuil" 1879.
"Field of poppies in a hollow near Giverny", 1885. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
"Field of poppies", circa 1890. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
"Oat field with poppies", 1890. Museum contemporary art, Strasbourg.
"Field of poppies at Giverny." 1890-1891 Art Institute, Chicago.
"Field of red poppies near Giverny", 1895. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA.
Tulip fields
Claude Monet visited Holland several times. And, of course, I could not remain indifferent to tulips. He created a series of paintings depicting the main attractions of Holland - tulip fields and windmills.
"Tulip Fields at Sassenheim, near Leiden", 1886, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.
"Tulip fields and windmills in Rheinsburg", 1886, private collection.
"Tulip fields in Holland", 1886. Orsay Museum, Paris.
"Tulip field in Holland." 1886, Musée Marmottan-Monet, Paris.
Vetheuil, 1879 - 1881
"The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil", 1880. National Gallery, Washington.
In 1879, Monet's family moved to Vétheuil, a small village on the banks of the Seine 65 km northwest of Paris. Here Claude Monet had his second son, Michel, but, unfortunately, his first wife Camille soon died.
The Monet family lived in Vétheuil until 1881.
Claude Monet meets the family of Alice Hoschedé, whom he had already known for several years. They live together, and Alice later became his second wife. But in the paintings of Claude Monet, Alice Goschede, unlike Camille, is very rare. Her daughters, Claude Monet's stepdaughters, served as models for the artist's paintings.
 "Flowers on the banks of the Seine near Vétheuil", 1880. |
 "Alice Goshede in the Garden", 1881. Future second wife of Claude Monet. |
 "Staircase at Vétheuil", 1881. |
"The Island of Flowers near Vetheuil", 1880, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
 "Flowers in Vétheuil", 1881. |
 "Flowers in Vétheuil", 1881. |
Flowers in a vase
Most of all, Claude Monet loved garden and wildflowers, but sometimes he also painted still lifes and bouquets of cut flowers.
"Spring Flowers", 1864. The whereabouts of the painting are currently unknown.
Of course, it is still difficult to recognize the future great impressionist artist in this painting.
"Chrysanthemums", 1878. Orsay Museum, Paris.
"Bouquet of mallow", 1880.
"Sunflowers", 1881. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
"Chrysanthemums" 1882. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
"Purple Poppies", 1883. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
"Anemones", ca. 1885, private collection.
"Two vases with chrysanthemums." 1888, private collection.
Giverny 1883 - 1926
In 1883, Claude Monet's family moved to Giverny. This is a small village in a picturesque area on the banks of the Epte River, at its confluence with the Seine, about 80 km from Paris. Claude Monet will live in Giverny for the rest of his life.
By this time he had already become famous artist and quite a wealthy person. In 1890, he was able to buy the house in Giverny where his family lived. He equipped a spacious workshop in the house.
Claude Monet significantly expanded his garden and built a pond in it, the water into which came from a special water intake tank built on the Epte River.
In those years, Claude Monet became interested in Japanese culture, Japanese prints, especially engravings of the great Japanese artist Hokusai.
To care for the garden, Monet hired a Japanese gardener who helped him arrange the garden in Japanese style. Monet himself was directly involved in the planning of the garden. The artist subscribed to the magazine Revue horticole (Gardening Magazine) and ordered plants and flowers from different countries peace.
It was this garden that became main love V recent years life of an artist. He worked in it, he wrote it in all forms, from different points, at different times of the day. The garden became the main source of inspiration for the artist.
Monet grew various flowers in the garden, water lilies grew in the pond, and the famous “Japanese Bridge” was thrown across the pond. He could spend hours admiring his garden, observing the slightest changes in lighting and weather.
In the fall of 1899, Claude Monet began painting his famous “Water Lilies” series, which he worked on until the end of his days.
Claude Monet in his garden with a pond of water lilies in the background, 1905.
Claude Monet in his garden, c. 1917 Photo: Etienne Clementel.
The pictures look a little “colored” and blurry, since these were stereoscopic photographs, they had to be viewed through special colored glasses, then the image would turn out three-dimensional.
Claude Monet (right) in his garden at Giverny. 1922 Photo from The New York Times archive.
The famous pond with water lilies and the Japanese bridge.
In the first paintings of the “Water Lilies” series, Claude Monet depicted a pond with a Japanese bridge, against the backdrop of lush garden vegetation.
IN latest works, depicting a pond with water lilies, he deliberately distorted everything accepted rules perspective, abandoned the horizon line, and painted only water with water lilies. Water lilies floating on the water are often cut off by the borders of the canvas, creating the impression that the real pond is something larger than what is depicted in the painting.
This series of "Water Lilies" contains over 60 paintings.
| "Water lilies." 1906 Art Institute, Chicago. |  |
| "Water lilies", 1916. National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. This huge, 2-meter canvas is one of the most expressive in the “Water Lilies” series. Pink and yellow islands of water lilies are located on the dark blue, dark green and even purple surface of the pond water. The picture is all in motion, we see the intertwining roots of water lilies. The water lily flowers themselves literally protrude above the surface of the water. Claude Monet felt nature very subtly and could convey all its subtleties and tints on his canvases. |
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| "Water lilies." 1920-26 Orangerie Museum, Paris. |
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In 1980, Claude Monet's house and garden in Giverny were opened to the public. Now this is one of the most favorite museums among tourists in the suburbs of Paris.
Claude Monet. Poppies. 1773 Musée D'Orsay, Paris
“Maki”, one of the most famous works Claude Monet, I saw in . However, then I didn’t look at it properly. As a fan, I was simply blown away by all the masterpieces that are in this museum!
Later, of course, I looked at “Poppies” properly. And I discovered that I hadn’t even noticed several interesting details in the museum. If you look at the picture more closely, you probably have at least three questions:
- Why are poppies so large?
- Why did Monet depict two almost identical pairs of figures?
- Why didn't the artist draw the sky in the picture?
I will answer these questions in order.
1. Why are poppies so big?
The poppies are depicted very large. Most of them are as big as the head of the depicted child. And if you take the poppies from the background and bring them closer to the figures in the foreground, then they will be completely larger than the heads of both the child and the woman depicted. Why such unreality?
In my opinion, Monet deliberately increased the size of the poppies: this way, he once again chose to convey a vivid visual impression rather than the realism of the depicted objects.
Here, by the way, a parallel can be drawn with his technique of depicting water lilies in his later works.
For clarity, look at fragments of paintings with water lilies from different years (1899-1926). The top work is the earliest (1899), the bottom is the latest (1926). Obviously, over time, water lilies became more and more abstract and less detailed.
Apparently “Poppies” is just a harbinger of the predominance of abstractionism in Monet’s later paintings.
Paintings by Claude Monet. 1. Top left: Water lilies. 1899 G. Private collection. 2. Top right: Water lilies. 1908 g. Private collection. 3. Middle: Pond with water lilies. 1919 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 4. Bottom: Lilies. 1926 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.
2. Why are there two pairs of identical figures in the picture?
It turns out that it was also important for Monet to show movement in his painting. He achieved it in an unusual way, depicting a barely visible path on a hill among flowers, as if trodden between two pairs of figures.
At the bottom of the hill with poppies are his wife Camille and son Jean. Camilla is traditionally depicted with a green umbrella, just like in the painting “Woman with an Umbrella”.
Up on the hill is another pair of a woman and a child, for whom Camilla and her son most likely also posed. That's why the two couples are so similar.
Claude Monet. Poppies. Fragment. 1873 Musee D'Orsay, Paris.
This pair of figures on the hill is depicted perhaps solely for the visual effect of movement that Monet so strived for.
3. Why didn’t Monet paint the sky?
Another notable point in: notice how poorly the sky is drawn, right down to the bare areas of the canvas left behind.
Claude Monet. Poppies. Fragment. 1873
I can assume that the point is in the technique of impressionism itself: Monet painted paintings in a matter of hours and even minutes in order to depict the play of light and colors at a certain moment of the day. Therefore, there was not always enough time for all the elements of the landscape. Working out all the details is the job of studio work, not outdoor work.
By the way, the painting “Poppies” was also exhibited at the first impressionist exhibition in 1874, which I wrote about in more detail in the article
Monet painted “Field of Poppies” en plein air, on a small portable canvas. Although the painting conveys a natural, spontaneous feeling, it is carefully composed. This is expressed not only in the fact that the artist repeated the figures twice on it, but also in the choice of angle, which is set in such a way that bright poppies, filling the left side of the composition, are located diagonally, along which Camille and Jean walk, as if going beyond the scope of the picture. The rich color and movement that fills this area of the painting is in careful contrast with the calm tones of the upper right edge of the canvas, where the terracotta roof of the house skillfully connects the background with the foreground of the composition.
Passion for flowers
Throughout his life, Monet was very fond of painting flowers - wild, garden or cut flowers, they are constantly present in his landscapes.Monet once admitted that the two greatest passions in his life were painting and gardening. When he painted flowers, both of these passions were combined. In “Field of Poppies,” as in many of his other paintings, Monet enjoys wild, bright colors. Several beautiful still lifes of cut flowers by Monet are known, but most of all he loved to paint the flowers that grew in his gardens, first in Argenteuil and later in Giverny. In 1871, Monet moved with his family to Argenteuil to find his first home and his first garden. However, the main passion in the artist’s life was his garden in Giverny. Monet selected flowers for his garden so that they were arranged in a certain order, were contrasting in color and bloomed all year round. He planted many unusual flowers in his garden. Monet's passion for flowers was shared by many other Impressionist artists, most notably Gustave Caillebotte. “Be sure to come on Monday, as agreed,” I wrote to my friend Mona. “All my irises will be in bloom.”
Obsession with light and color
Monet's obsession with light and color resulted in many years of research and experimentation, the goal of which was to capture the fleeting, elusive shades of nature on canvas.MONET'S PAINTINGS gave birth to a new movement in painting - impressionism, and Monet himself is recognized as the greatest and most typical representative of this movement. Throughout his long life, Monet steadily followed the basic rules of impressionism - to capture scenes on canvas modern life(for Monet, these are landscapes) and work outdoors.
WORKING IN THE PLEIN AIR The practice of an artist working in the open air (plein air) was not something completely new. Back at the beginning of the 19th century English artist John Constable often painted his sketches and studies in oils in nature. In 1840, following his example, a group French artists gathered in the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainebleau with the goal of painting landscapes that should depict “true nature.” Camille Corot, who was highly regarded by many Impressionists for his unidealized view of nature, also painted in oils en plein air, urging artists to “follow your first impression.”
The most important role in Monet’s development as an artist was played by his youthful friendship with the landscape painter Eugene Boudin, who specialized in small aerial paintings. seascapes, which he created in the open air. Bodin insisted that Monet join him during one of these sessions in Le Havre. “Suddenly the scales fell from my eyes,” Monet later wrote.
There, in Le Havre, Monet met Dutch artist Johan Barthold Jonkind, who tried to convey the most delicate shades of air and mood in his seascapes. Monet later said about him: “He was the man who finally developed my vision.”
WHAT THE EYE REALLY SEES Monet learned that a painting painted outdoors has a unique freshness and vitality that cannot be achieved by working in a studio, where the artist has a preconceived idea of the work he is about to create. The advice Monet gave to artists clearly reveals his own approach to painting: “Try to forget about what you see in front of you - a tree, a house, a field, whatever. Just think that in this place there is a small blue square, there is an elongated pink figure, and continue until you have a naive impression of the picture that is in front of your eyes.” Thus, an impression is a visual impulse created by what is seen at that particular moment.
A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA For all the Impressionists, and for Monet in particular, the main goal of art was to capture an elusive, fleeting impression. At that time, such an idea seemed revolutionary and shocked no less than Courbet’s overt realism in NEW TECHNIQUES To achieve his goals, the artist needed new technical techniques of writing. Monet, in particular, developed his own painting technique, applying broad, rough strokes, bold scattered dots, dashes, zigzags and thick strokes to the canvas with a short brush. Monet worked simultaneously on the entire space of the painting, believing, as he later said, that “the first layer of paint should cover as much most of canvas and it doesn’t matter how roughly it is applied.”
Monet used color in a completely new and revolutionary way, inspired, no doubt, by Eugene Chevreul's discoveries about the method of visual perception. Chevreul proved that adjacent primary colors color wheel soften each other, and the greatest contrast is achieved when adjacent additional colors. His other important discovery was that color is not an inherent property of objects. Color is simply the way light mixes as it reflects off the surface of an object. Like his fellow Impressionists, Monet usually used a limited palette, preferring pure, mixed colors and painting on canvases previously coated with white or cream primer, which made the applied colors lighter and brighter.
Another important discovery that influenced the vision of artists was photography. In photographs of that time, moving objects are perceived as blurry spots, and only stationary objects have clear outlines. This effect is clearly reflected in the ant-like figures of people that we see in Monet’s painting “Boulevard des Capucines” (1873).
CHANGING THE SUBJECT OF THE IMAGE
It is very interesting to trace how Monet’s attitude towards the objects he depicted changed over the course of his long life. Despite the fact that he was constantly absorbed in the play of light, in his early paintings Monet most often depicted human figures painted in a familiar manner against the background of a landscape.
However, closer to the 1880s, Monet began to become increasingly attracted to nature in its purest form. If figures appear in the paintings of this period or inanimate objects, they usually play a supporting role and fade into the background.
SERIES OF PAINTINGS
Despite the fact that artists at all times created a series of sketches of the same scene, before Monet there was no one who painted the same object several times under different lighting and different weather conditions. Monet's paintings represent entire series depicting haystacks, poplars, the cathedral in Rouen, a view of London from the Thames and, finally, water lilies.
Monet's London landscapes, painted between 1899 and 1901, with their diffused light and diffused color, are virtuosic, dramatic works of art that trace the evolution of the artist's style towards an almost abstract manner. They show the artist's gradual progress towards the object that he will paint throughout the remaining years of his life, creating his gardens and turning them into rare works of art.
From about 1905 until the end of his life, Monet concentrated entirely on water lilies. These paintings, in which the cups of water lilies literally materialize on the surface of water that has no horizon line, became studies that captured the endless and unique variety of color and light. In fact, these series of paintings, like any brilliant work art that defies explanation. These are the works of a poet who has a keen sense of nature and is able to convey its beauty in his painting.
