Monet’s Fixated Recitals

What is it that we see in the world? What parts of the world elucidate the sensorial experience of life? Claude Monet (1840-1926) proposed a new way of seeing the everyday world. This is evident through the inescapable brush strokes and color palette Monet uses the art of painting to integrate and push forward the importance of the everyday world, but also to express one’s perception of the world. The term impressionism is key in describing Monet’s own painting due to its emphasis on the importance of unrestricted bold brush strokes, vivid colors, and the emphasis of painting an object that is outdoors. Monet repeats his painting creating different variations of the same subject matter. There are various arguments by scholars on why Monet repeated his paintings and has such an extensive amount of paintings for a single series. Though there are various debates regarding his repetitions from general obsession toward perfection and even potential genetic issues regarding his eyesight, it is evident throughout all of his series that he is interested in the play of light. The nature of light itself is unpredictable where there is a great variation in the outcome of how the object will be projected based on the difference in time of day and weather. The variation in the different views of an object is evident in Monet’s painting through how he repeats painting the same object, with similar components yet differ in both color palette and brush strokes.

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

Date: 1899

Dimensions: 36 1/2 x 29 in. (92.7 x 73.7 cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas  

Ascension Number: 29.100.113

Collection: H. O. Havemeyer Collection

Institution: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: Japanese Footbridge and the Water Lily Pool, Giverny

Date: 1899

Dimensions: 35 1/8 × 36 3/4 inches (89.2 × 93.3 cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Accession Number: 1963-116-11

Collection: The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection, 1963

Institution: Philadelphia Museum of Art

Japanese Bridge Series

The Japanese Bridge series is a collection of paintings after Monet moved to Giverny in the year 1883. Monet was adamant to create an exuberant garden, turning a pond into a water garden. The style of the garden itself had Japanese influences. In conjunction with painting the bridges, Monet was also actively reconstructing and expanding his water garden, hence projected through his paintings where Monet focuses on the daily differences of his garden.

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (Sunlight)

Date: 1894

Dimensions: 39 1/4 x 25 7/8 in. (99.7 x 65.7 cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas 

Ascension Number: 30.95.250

Collection: Theodore M.Davis Collection 

Institution: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight

Date: 1894

Dimension:  39 3/8 x 25 15/16 in. (100.1 x 65.9 cm)

Medium: oil on canvas

Accession Number: 1963.10.49

Collection: Chester Dale Collection

Institution: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C

Rouen Cathedral Series

Monet was commissioned to paint The Rouen Cathedral in Normandy from the year 1892 to 1893 but later reworked the paintings in 1894. The focus of the Rouen Cathedral Series is Monet's emphasis on the light at different times of the day and year. He contrasted the previous conception that the color of a shadow consisted of blacks and browns but instead, he used complimentary colors and thicker brushstrokes of unmixed colors, integrating white to give a sunlight radiant finish. Although the Rouen Cathedral Series has heavy surface quality the textured patterns are even creating the natural texture of the withered sandstone.

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer)

Date: 1891

Dimensions:  23 5/8 × 39 9/16 in. (60 × 100.5 cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Accession Number: 1985.1103

Collection: The Department of Painting and Sculpture of Europe 

Institution: Art Institute Chicago

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: Grainstack, Sun in the Mist

Date: 1891

Dimensions: 23 5/8 x 39 1/2 in. (60 x 100.3cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Accession Number: 93.2

Collection: European Art

Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Haystacks Series

Haystacks is a series of paintings by Monet that focuses on the object of stacks of hay in a field after it has already been harvested. The series consists of twenty-five paintings from the beginning of summer 1890 extending toward the spring of the following year. Repetitions of the subjects encapsulate how different seasons, climates, and times impact the appearance of an object. The focus on both the impact of sunset and sunrise on the haystacks introduced Monet to a whole new color palette. The Haystacks series itself is considered to be one of Monet’s earliest works that emphasize thematic repetitions.

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog)

Date: 1903-4

D32 x 36 3/8 in. (81.3 x 92.4 cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Accession Number:  56.135.6

Collection: European Art

Institution: The Metrapolitan Museum of Art

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840-1926 Giverny)

Title: The Houses of Parliament, Seagulls

Date: 1903

Dimensions: 31 7/8 x 36 1/4 in. (81 x 92 cm)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Accession Number: y1979-54

Collection: European Art

Institution: Princeton University Art Museum

The House of Parliament Series

The House of Parliament Series is a painting series Monet created during his time in London from the fall of 1899 to the early months of 1900 and 1901. Monet wants to render the changes in the shape of a static object due to the whirlwind weather conditions of London. Furthermore, Monet also created layers and depth in the fog to depict the thickness and weight of the current atmosphere. Monet did not stay for long in London hence he finished his House of Parliament Series back in Paris. He repeated painting the House of Parliament, revised it, and used photographs from London as a reference.