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Home , Camille Doncieux, Charles Gleyre, Claude Monet, Joslyn Art Museum, Poplars (Monet series)

a biography and the Late at

Claude Monet was born on November 14, significant features of the scene, and Monet considered Jongkind his true master. While , with its classically world, including America. 1840 in , . Five years later, his Eventually Monet returned to Paris and enrolled in ’s studio. proportioned figures, anecdotal subjects, Soon, however, a new wave of artists father moved their family to the French During this time, Monet lead excursions to the Fontainebleau Forest to paint outdoors. precise details, and flawless surfaces, became dissatisfied with Impressionism’s seacoast city of . In 1900, Monet He focused on with rapid brush continued to be popular well into the twentieth lack of emotional depth and visual coherence described his childhood as “essentially one of strokes while concentrating on the effects century, Impressionism and, like , freedom. I was born undisciplineable. No one of light. Monet married emerged in the last third of developed stylistic was ever able to make me stick to the rules, in 1870 and they, along with their son Jean, the nineteenth century as variations which are not even in my youngest days.” relocated to London when the Prussian army the dominant style of the collectively called Post- During his teenage years, Monet decorated moved on Paris. avant-garde. Impressionism. At the his textbooks’ margins with sketches, and by the When the war ended, Monet moved his Fascinated with sense same time, a wider circle time he reached 15 he received commissions family to in France using the perception, Impressionists of painters adopted Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926 for his caricatures. Also at this time he met money earned from selling his artworks such as Claude Monet Impressionism’s vibrant Small Country Farm at Bordighera, Eugène Boudin who invited and encouraged through Paul Durand-Ruel’s gallery in sought to convey motion colors and spirited brush- (Un coin de ferme à Bordighera), 1884 him to paint landscapes outdoors. Monet London. His final home was in oil on canvas, 29 1/8 x 36 1/8 inches. and to capture the changing work to update otherwise resisted, but in time he said, “my eyes began where he planted many of the flowers as well Joslyn Art Museum effects of light and traditional imagery. The to open and I really started to understand as built the Japanese bridge that is featured in atmosphere. Free of the nature. I also learned to love it. I would numerous . Pierre Auguste Renoir, French, 1841-1919 sparkling society portraits of the Aesthetic Movement in England analyze its forms with my pencil. I would Despite his failing eyesight, Monet started Young Girls at the Piano Academic studio, they and America, like those by , are a case in point. study its colourations.” the water-lily project which he agreed to give (La Leçon de piano), ca. 1889 worked en plein-air (out- Supporters of the Aesthetic Movement and similar trends, which In 1859 Monet moved to Paris and enrolled oil on canvas, 22 x 18 1/4 inches. of-doors), and painted pursued beauty for its own sake, looked beyond the “high arts” of Carjat, photograph of Monet at the age to the French government. They occupy large in the Académie Suisse. During this time oval rooms at the Orangerie Museum in Paris. Joslyn Art Museum. distinctly modern subjects: painting and sculpture and proposed to suffuse all of life with the beauty of twenty-four or twenty-five, 1864-65. Claude Monet, 1840-1926 he visited the , however rather than He underwent operations for while fashionable strollers on the , American, 1844-1926 of good design and high-quality craftsmanship. Among the decorative Private collection. Caricature of Léon Manchon, 1855-6 paint the Old Masters as his fellow artists did, completing this project. Monet died of lung boulevards, laundresses and barmaids at work, cafés, train stations, Woman Reading (Portrait of Lydia arts, glassmaking assumed an important role: new techniques joined Charcoal, with stumping, heightened on he painted what he saw out the window. Monet was drafted into the French army and cancer at Giverny on December 5, 1926. vacation resorts. These themes, and the new painting style of unmixed Cassatt, the Artist’s Sister), 1878-79 traditional ones to enlarge the repertoire of modern shapes and colors, laid paper, 612 x 452 mm. eventually returned to Le Havre after contracting typhoid fever. He resumed painting Detail. Monet, , 1891. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colors and patchy, spontaneous-looking brushstrokes, were soon oil on canvas, 32 x 23 1/2 inches. . as designers most often turned to nature for inspiration, transforming with Boudin, who introduced him to Johan Jongkind. He taught Monet how to select the New York. Private collection. adopted by legions of painters who flocked to Paris from all over the Joslyn Art Museum. sinuous plant and flower forms into the elegant style as Art Nouveau.

Timeline...... 1874 First Impressionist show is held. Monet’s The Meadow 1890 of Norway, Oslo Impression: Sunrise lead to , , Claude Monet becomes the first museum to purchase 1919 Monet starts to notice his 1840 - 1930 to brand the show “Exhibition of the Impressionists” one of Monet’s artworks. failing eyesight. Featuring Claude Monet and this lead to the group’s Detail. Claude Monet, , 1897-98, 66 x 104.1 cm, W. 1501, name of Impressionists. 1907 State purchases first painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Fred Hathaway Bixby. Cathedral from Monet. 1923 Monet undergoes three operations on his right eye for 1840 Claude Monet 1862 He meets Johan Jongkind the . Uses his corrective is born in Paris and is inspired to create new works of 1914 Monet starts the large scale water lily dark glasses at this time. on November 14. his own. Monet returns to Paris to take panels to be called Grandes Décorations. classes at Charles Gleyre’s studio. Monet, Impression: Sunrise, 1872-3. Musée Marmottan, Paris.

1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930

1856-58 Creates and sells 1865 Monet has two caricatures. Meets and paints paintings accepted for the 1915 Monet constructs a third 1927 Grandes Décorations outside with Eugène Boudin. first time in the . studio on his property at Giverny to at the Orangerie Museum in accommodate the water lily project. Paris opens to the public. 1859 Monet uses the money he earns from 1883 Monet moves to Giverny and takes a his caricatures and moves to Paris. He attends the trip with Auguste Renoir to the Mediterranean. 1926 Monet dies on Académie Suisse and meets Camille Pissarro. Monet standing in front of three panels of Three Willows polyptych December 5 at Giverny. 1884 after 1923 (?). Photograph © Monet travels to Bordighera Collection Philippe Pignet. 1861 Drafted into the Military and returns home on the Italian Riviera. é Background. Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond, 200 x 600, The Meadow (La Prairie, or La Prairie á V theuil), 1879, Carnetgie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. to Le Havre in 1862 to recover from typhus. oil on canvas, 32 x 39 1/4 inches Impressionism 101 Gift of Mr. William Averell Harriman, Joslyn Art Museum Monet’s Palette From the Museum to the Classroom - Focus on color and light. Plen-air painting, that is, painting out of doors and directly from nature, was a Side by Side Monet & Hassam Activities Claude Monet - Limited color palatte, rarely used black. leading principle of Impressionism. Proposing an “art of ,” its Capturing a Moment Water Lilies, 1914-17 adherents painted city scenes as well as the countryside, like this meadow on the Much like a camera, Impressionist artists wanted to capture a - Primed canvases with white or cream. 200.5 x 201 cm outskirts of Paris. In typical Impressionist manner, Monet captures the feel of spontaneous moment in time. - Artists understood that colors were The National changed when other colors were placed a summer day with loose brushstrokes of unmixed color that simulate sunlight - Discuss the Impressionistic style. Focus on the Impressionist artists desire to Museum of next to each other. Based on Eugène playing over flowers and leaves and suggest the movement of clouds across the capture a moment in time. Western Art, Tokyo, Chevreul’s findings. sky. The seeming naturalness and spontaneity, however, are the calculated result of Matsukata Collection. - Do not show them The Meadow, yet. Have the students gather with a journal and a pencil. - Layered partial brushstrokes caused a a deliberate process, as many Impressionist paintings were finished in the studio. Per Monet, As for the colors I use, what’s so - Tell them once you reveal the painting that they will have 45 seconds to study it. finished image to appear unfinished. interesting about that? I don’t think one could paint - Next, have them write for 5-10 minutes describing their first impression of the art work. - Painted en plein-air (out-of-doors). Discussion Questions: better or more brightly with another palette. The - Their subjects reflectedeveryday modern - Who are the people in the painting? most important thing is to know how to use the - Then, reveal the painting and have them study it for a longer amount of time. - What do you notice first about this artwork? Foreground? Trees? Sky? scenes both in the city and countryside. colors. Their choice is a matter of habit. In short, Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926 - Finally, have them write for 20-30 minutes. - Influenced by innovations of the time: - What time of the day and time of the year did Monet capture? I use white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, Frederick , American, 1859-1935 Le Pont Neuf, d. 1872 camera, trains and metal paint tubes. madder, , chrome green. That’s all. April Showers, Champs Elysée, 20 7/8 x 28 1/2 inches. Slice of Life Paris, 1888 Season’s Change oil on canvas, 12 1/2 x 16 3/4 inches. Impressionist artists sought out modern-life The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection. Joslyn Art Museum. scenes to paint. Typical themes were crowded Monet often painted images out of doors so he could cafes and restaurants as well as weekends in capture the light in his paintings as bright or as shady as it really was while he was working. Impressionist artists are known for their asymmetrical the countryside. They not only painted these compositions as well as slice of life images. subjects, they participated in this lifestyle. Monet, Bathing at La Grenouillère Monet wanted to show these changes in a series (or The Frog Pond), 1869. of paintings some featuring wheatstacks, poplars Take note of the quick brush strokes and blurred - Discuss the types of subjects the Impressionist Trustees of the National Gallery, and cathedrals. edges in both artworks. artists depicted in their paintings. London. Monet, Wheatstacks. (Full Sunlight), 1890. He developed a method of bringing a number of Monet, Wheatstacks. (Effects of Snow, Monet, Wheatstack. (Sunset), - Talk about what is happening in The Meadow. Hillstead, Museum, Farmington. Morning) 1890-91. Private Collection. 1890-91. Museum of Fine Arts, canvases with him. If a sunny day should suddenly turn Discussion Questions: - Have students talk about activities their families do on weekends. Create a list. - Study The Meadow and wheatstacks paintings, and discuss what season or time Boston, Juliana Cheney Edwards - How do you feel when looking at these artworks? What is the painting’s mood? dreary, he would start working on another version of the Collection. - Next, discuss what types of activities families would do on the weekends in the 19th C. . When the sun came back out, he would then of day Monet is capturing. - What colors do you see? - Discuss how the colors would change for a different season or time of day. - Finally, compare 19th C. activities with the 21st C. ones. - Imagine you are there, what sounds would you hear? return to the previous canvas. - Have students create a series of paintings representing different seasons and/or time of day. © Joslyn Art Museum 2008