Exhibit: Monet - the early years

Revised. Originally posted 5/25/2017

Monet exhibit at The Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, 2017.

Monet’s early paintings

In the fall of 2016 on a visit to San Francisco I was very pleased to discover that the Legion of Honor Museum was hosting an exhibit entitled Monet: The Early Years. Monet is one of my favorite impressionists and his early paintings are my favorite. I prefer his genre paintings to more abstracts later work. This exhibit was a terrific opportunity to see many work in person for the first time and to learn more about his techniques.

The Luncheon on the Grass, above, was the centerpiece of the show. I hadn't realized that the painting that I was so familiar with – the portion on the right – is a cropped from a much larger painting. Sections at the top and bottom right had been cut off by the artist due to mildew damage and are presumed lost.

Monet began this ambitious work for the 1866 Paris Salon, but he was unable to complete it in time and it was never finished.

Detail, Luncheon on the Grass, 1865-1866

Getting up close

When I look at artwork in museums, I usually start by standing stand back to look at the whole canvas to get a first impression of the subject, style, and feeling of the painting. Next, I'll get very close to the piece to inspect the brushwork. This allows me to learn about the artist's working process. Here I was looking at Monet's loose strokes on the dresses, fruit, and background. The unfinished dress in front helped me to understand the order in which Monet put down paint, and where he worked wet-in-wet.

Then I stood back again to understand the rhythm of the painting. My eye was first caught by the seated woman, then it moved down to the food, continued left to the three figures there, then back to the central man and the two standing people at the right. I saw that the size and position of the woman in cream provides interest and keeps the grouping from being just a line of people against the forest. But the focal point remains the woman in white because she is the lightest figure and we can see her face.

On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt, 1868.

Color contrasts

The contrast between the bright blue color and the dull greens and pinks are what first attracted me to this painting. I like how the strong values in the foreground frame the distant scene painted in muted colors. The horizontal lines and muted color palette make this pastoral scene look restful. The impressionistic handling of the surface of the water and the tree foliage, painted in loose interlocking strokes, give the painting a softness that matches the calm water and the woman’s watchfulness.

A Hut at Sainte-Addesse, 1857

A bit of confusion

This painting was caught my attention because of its colors, the bright teal set against the bit of red orange in the chimney, the vivid greens of the foreground, and the muted blues of the sky. However, I'm confused about the composition; it seems somewhat staid with the house plopped right in the middle and that horizon line continuing unbroken across the top. But who am I to argue with Monet?

The Magpie, 1869.

Monet’s impressionistic painting techniques

The above painting was just breathtaking in its quiet intensity. It glowed with a soft warm light and subtle changes in color and value, which gave the work an overall feeling of peace and stillness. The use of compliments in the violet snow shadows and the warm yellow snow are what gives this painting its vibrancy. But if you look closely in the detail you can see that Monet painted each of these color areas with many related hues of those two colors. This impressionist technique conveys the sense of the light and atmosphere of the scene.

I imagined Monet standing in the snow on a bitterly cold morning, bundled up head to toe while he concentrated on getting just the right colors to create this incredible effect.

On the Beach at Trouville, 1870.

Desaturating color to create atmosphere

The colors in this simple sketch really capture the sense of a grey day at the seaside, while the angled brushwork of the sky and the women's skirts in the background make it seem like a windy day. Notice how that tiniest bit of red and blue in the background liven up that area.

I left the show with an even greater appreciate for Monet’s mastery of color, value, and composition to create vivid scenes of everyday life.