Create Landscapes During the Time of Monet Use the space provided to create your own Impressionist masterpiece. A landscape is a painting, photograph, or other work of art that depicts scenery such as mountains, valleys, Monet and Impressionism trees, rivers, and forests. Traditional landscapes have a foreground, middle ground, and background and usually show some sky in the scene. Looking Guide Look at Charles Francois Daubigny’s painting Banks of the Oise. Can you identify the foreground, middle ground, and background? What is in the: Foreground? Middle ground? Background? Charles François Daubigny, French, 1817–1878; Banks of the Oise, 1863; oil on canvas; 35 x 63 1/2 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Friends Endowment, and gift of Justina G. Catlin in memory of her husband, Daniel Catlin, by exchange 84:2007 Horizon Line A horizon line is the line where the sky meets land or water in a landscape. If the horizon line is higher in a painting it might make you feel like you are looking at a scene from high above. Trace the horizon line in Daubigny’s painting. Artists are able to convey a feeling of distance by having two lines meet at a vanishing point. These lines meet at the horizon line, and objects in the distance get smaller as they converge. Paul Cornoyer, American, 1864–1923; The Plaza after Rain (detail), before 1910; oil on canvas; 59 1/4 x 59 1/4 inches, framed: 68 x 68 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 65:1910 Compare Monet’s Water Lilies to Banks of the Oise. How do the two paintings differ? Can you find any similarities? On cover: Claude Monet, French, 1840 –1926; Water Lilies (detail), c.1915–26; oil on canvas; 78 3/4 inches x 13 feet 11 3/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, The Steinberg Charitable Fund 134:1956 Sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors. Additional support is provided by Macy’s “I have always loved sky and water, leaves and flowers ... Claude Monet, French, 1840–1926; Water Lilies, c.1915–26; oil on canvas; 78 3/4 inches x I found them in abundance in my little pond.” – Claude Monet 13 feet 11 3/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, The Steinberg Charitable Fund 134:1956 Monet and the Impressionists Impressionists Focus On… Describe Impressionism Technology Impressionism first emerged in the late 19th century as an artistic style that focuses on the effects of light With greater advances in travel, photography, and paint storage, Impressionist artists were able to explore and and atmosphere on colors and forms. The Impressionists experimented with a new style of painting that paint their world in new and exciting ways. gave an ‘impression’ of a location or object. The spread of railroads made travel from the city to the countryside much more convenient, allowing artists to study and paint various locations en plein air. As the practice of photography grew, artists were also able to capture fleeting moments in nature on film to later be studied and used for reference in their studios. The Far left: Dennis Stock; The gardens of invention of the paint tube in 1841 made storing and transporting paints much easier. Unlike its predecessor, Claude Monet, 1978; Magnum Photos the pig’s bladder, the tube was less likely to burst and prevented paint from drying out. Left: Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926; The Artist’s Garden at Giverny, 1902; oil on canvas; Oesterreichische Galerie im Belvedere, Vienna, Austria; Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY Color Old Master’s Impressionist artists were very bold in their Color Palette color choices, often mixing colors with one another directly on their canvases. They also had access to brighter colors than artists in Julien Dupré, French, 1851–1910; Haying Scene, 1884; oil on canvas; 48 5/8 x 59 1/2 inches; Edgar Degas, French, 1834–1917; The Milliners, c.1898; oil on canvas; 29 5/8 x 32 1/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Justina G. Catlin in memory of her husband, Daniel Catlin Saint Louis Art Museum, Director’s Discretionary Fund; and gift of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Claude Monet (1840–1926) was a key figure in the Impressionist movement and often found subjects for the past, with the discovery of new elements Impressionist’s 25:1917 D. May, Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, Mr. and Mrs. Sydney M. Shoenberg Sr. and Mr. and Mrs. and pigments. Sydney M. Shoenberg Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Irving Edison, and Harry Tenenbaum, bequest of his paintings in his immediate surroundings. He took great inspiration from the garden and lily pond on his Color Palette Edward Mallinckrodt Sr., and gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Levin, by exchange 25:2007 property in Giverny, France. En Plein Air How is the image on the left, produced in a French for “in the open air,” en plein air is a term primarily used to describe the act of painting outdoors. traditional painting style, different from the image Many Impressionist artists began their works outside and some even finished their paintingsen plein air. Light and Time Impressionists were interested in the transitory nature of light and color. Artists would paint the same object on the right, painted by an Impressionist artist? or place multiple times to explore how light and color changed throughout the day. How are they similar? Broken Brush Strokes Monet and the Waterloo Bridge Between 1899 and 1901, Monet spent the winters in London where he primarily painted the Charing Impressionist artists often used broken Cross and Waterloo bridges. Each painting of the Waterloo Bridge (below) uses color to convey a brush strokes, rather than smooth and different atmospheric condition. Using purples, blues, and grays Monet was able to infuse each canvas unnoticeable ones, to create a sense of Detail with a feeling of sunlight, fog, and smoke. texture in their works of art. They also utilized many previously unused colors Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, to paint scenes of everyday life. 1841–1919; The Dreamer, 1879; oil on canvas; 20 1/8 x 24 3/8 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 5:1935 Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926 Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926 Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926 Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, c.1900 (dated 1903) Waterloo Bridge: the Sun in a Fog, 1903 Waterloo Bridge, London, Cloudy Sky, 1903 Milwaukee Art Museum, Bequest of National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen, Denmark “We are all the subjects of impressions, and some of us seek to Mrs. Albert T. Friedmann M1950.3 Photo © NGC Cameraphoto Arte, Venice/ Art Resource, NY Photo credit John R. Glembin convey the impressions to others.” – Camille Pissarro.