Claude Monet's impressionism: origins, exhibitions, paintings

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Paintings by Claude Monet and Impressionism have long been synonymous. His canvases, filled with light and air, excite the minds of connoisseurs of art. The impressionist lived an amazing life and left behind a huge cultural heritage. This article contains the most interesting facts about the life of the great artist. It also provides information about exhibitions dedicated to Impressionism in Monet's painting.

The great impressionist started with caricatures

Monet was born on November 14, 1840 in the capital of France. When the baby was 5 years old, the family moved to Normandy (Havre). Claude's parents had a small family business - a grocery store. The father of the future famous artist was an extremely stingy man, and the child did not receive pocket money at all. A talented teenager at the age of 14 came up with his own way of earning money - he began to draw cartoons on his friends and acquaintances, as well as onall willing locals.

The guy liked to create cartoons. For work, he took 15-20 francs, which was quite a decent amount. But painting, oddly enough, did not attract the young man at all at that time. Everything changed the moment he met his teacher Eugene Boudin. He showed Claude that paintings can be painted outdoors, observing what is happening in nature, and depicting the dynamics of what is happening on the canvases.

The Birth of Impressionism

The new trend in art was not born from scratch. There were prerequisites for this that had been developed over the years.

The basis of impressionism in the painting of Claude Monet was the work of such famous masters of the Renaissance as:

• Goya;
• El Greco;
• Velasquez;
• Rubens.

Claude and his associates began to depict the world around them, using intermediate tones and applying many different strokes in one work:

• bright;
• dim;
• large;
• small;
• abstract.

The paintings of Monet and his associates were very different from the academic style of drawing, for which they were criticized at first.

Features of Impressionism

Together with the style of impressionism, Claude Monet brought the following innovations to painting:

• The lack of a clear outline of the depicted objects. Instead, small strokes of a different color were used.
• The Impressionists practically did not mix colors, that is, they refused to use a palette. Monet chose shades thatperfectly complement each other and do not require merging with others. In some places, the paint fell on the canvas directly from the tube.
• Black was not used in the paintings.
• The paints used by the Impressionists had high hiding power.
• Fresh strokes were often applied to the still damp surface of the canvas.
• Claude Monet created a series of outdoor paintings to explore the gradual changes of light and shadow. It's called Haystacks.

The canvas "Water Lilies" is considered the world's best painting in the style of impressionism. Claude Monet, working on the canvas, is already rapidly blind.

The artist began to be called the author of the very term "impressionism" after an exhibition of a Parisian group of novice painters called "Salon of the Outcasts". The art movement got its name thanks to Monet's painting “Impression. Rising Sun". The canvas was criticized by experts, and journalist Louis Leroy wrote a feuilleton in which he roughly described the exhibition. In his work, for the first time, the name “impressionists” will sound, that is, “impressionists”.

The reason for the failure was that at that time the associates and Claude himself were accused of rebellious moods. In the works of 30 masters of painting who took part in the exhibition, the government saw immorality. Over time, the impressionism of Claude Monet will be widely recognized in all corners of the world.

Most of Monet's paintings are of the same woman

A detailed study of the portraits of ladies on Monet's canvases shows thathe portrays the same lady everywhere - his wife Camille Domcus.

Camille and Monet raised two boys. The first child was born before they officially formalized the relationship. The birth of a second baby severely crippled her he alth, and soon her wife died. Claude Monet created a posthumous portrait of his beloved.

The most expensive painting by Claude Monet

Monet is one of the three most expensive painters on the planet. His painting "Pond with water lilies" in 2008 at an auction in London was sold for 80 million dollars. Today, the painting is in ninth place on the list of the most expensive paintings. The owner of the picture wanted to remain anonymous, as is often the case at such auctions.

His work worth $7.799 million was auctioned off worldwide.

These are paintings with a dizzying value:

1. "Water Lilies", written in 1905 - the price of 43 million dollars.
2. The Argenteuil Railway Bridge, built in 1873, cost $41 million.
3. “Waterloo Bridge. Cloudy”, written in 1904 - the price of 35 million dollars.
4. "The Path to the Pond", written in 1900 - $32 million.
5. The Water Lily Pond, born in 1917, cost $24 million.
6. Topolya, established in 1891 - $22 million.
7. “Parliament building. Sunlight in the Fog," written in 1904 - $20 million.
8. "Parliament, sunset", which the artist painted in 1904 - price 14million dollars.

Where are the paintings of the great Monet today

Monet's canvases traveled a lot. Today, most of his work is located in the following countries:

• Russian Federation;
• United States of America;
• UK.

Paintings of the painter can be found in other museums that are located in Europe and abroad. Even New Zealand can boast of several works by Monet. Paintings acquired by collectors are often hidden from the general public. It is very rare that paintings go to museums or participate in auctions.

Where can one enjoy impressionism today? In the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin are:

• "Lilac in the sun";
• "Breakfast on the Grass".

Paintings of the famous painter are also located:

• In the Hermitage.
• At the Musée d'Orsay in France.
• At the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
• At the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
• At the London National Gallery.

Monet theft

It's no surprise that the world's most expensive canvases have been stolen more than once, with some thefts taking place under the very noses of guards. So, for example, the painting "The Beach at Pourville" in the Polish museum was cut out by a criminal right out of the frame. It was replaced with a cheap and low-quality copy. The fake was not immediately noticed. Later, the police found the villain, and the canvas that hung in his house was seized.

The most egregious case of theft went wrongfor a long time. In 2012 at the Kunstel Museum in Rotterdam. The thieves took 7 paintings out of it. Unfortunately, they were never found. It is believed that the paintings could have been burned by criminals. Among the paintings was one of the most famous in the world - "Waterloo Bridge".

Exhibition "Claude Monet. Age of Impressionism" in Rostov

From February 16, 2018, the long-awaited exhibition of impressionist reproductions made in giclee technique opened in Rostov-on-Don. This is the creation of modern digital copies of paintings, on which, unlike hand-painted canvases, even the craquelure that time has left is preserved. The event takes place in the regional museum of local lore and is educational in nature. Here you can touch the beauty and listen to the life stories of the most famous impressionists in the world. Paintings on display:

• Vincent van Gogh;
• Claude Monet;
• Camila Pissarro;
• Renoir.

You can also take pictures against the backdrop of the legendary canvases. Buy memorable souvenirs and reproductions of paintings.

Ivanovo Impressionist Exhibition

From March 12 to May 6, 2018 in the city of Ivanovo at Baturina, 6/40, an exhibition of digital reproductions made using the giclee technique is open. The exposition of the exhibition en titled “Claude Monet. Age of Impressionism in Ivanovo presented 70 works. Here you can see reproductions not only of the founder of the Impressionists, but also of other masters:

• Camila Pissarro;
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir;
• Paul Gauguin;
• post-impressionist WangGoga.

In the works of Claude Monet you will not see the social or religious problems of the time, which was inherent in the works of his contemporaries. Fans love the famous impressionist for the fact that his work carries positive emotions. The sincerity of feelings is imprinted here. The joy of every lived moment, lightness and beauty. The famous painter managed to change his view of art. The Impressionist style of writing found many enthusiastic audiences and spawned several generations of imitators among artists.

The Impressionists changed the world of painting dramatically. The main idea of the current was to capture the momentary mood and atmosphere of the moment. Reality in impressionism seems to come to life. Artists convey its eternal change, the play of light. Images on canvases have dynamics. In the paintings we see running horses, clouds flying across the sky, oncoming waves, the movement of dancers on stage. New subjects have appeared that were previously considered unworthy of the artist's brush:

• nobility picnics;
• fun festivities;
• life of theater and ballet behind the scenes;
• racing.

Installation "Poppy field"

It's been 173 years since Monet's birth, and his canvases are even more admired by art connoisseurs around the world. Some admirers of the famous impressionist became his followers and dedicated their works to Claude. The most prominent among them is Claude Cormier, an artist and architect who created several installations in honor of the painter's work.

Claude Monet's painting "Poppy Field" inspired him to create a masterpiece of contemporary art. It took 5060 white, red and green markers to prepare the installation. They were placed on the pavement in front of the Museum of Fine Arts.