Claude Monet is a well-renowned painter, and he is well known for the role he played in the Impressionist movement. These artists were known for their unique approaches to art and painting, and Monet was at the forefront of this movement. Critiques of his painting Sunrise sparked the naming of the movement, and many paintings of Monet and other Impressionist painters were described as looking unfinished and sketch like. Monet was also a painter who would often paint outside so that he could observe the landscape up close.
Before Monet introduced his painting Sunrise in an independent exhibition in 1874, he spent time in the Netherlands in 1871 which was prompted by the Franco-Prussian War. Monet enjoyed his time in Holland, and he was eager to see the country of the famous Dutch landscape artists of the 17th century. During his stay, he created around twenty-four paintings depicting the scenery and people in the Netherlands. His art was reminiscent of landscape paintings by Jan van Goyen, Aelbert Cuyp, and Salomon van Ruysdael, but he adds some elements that are unique to himself such as his use of lighter, vibrant colors and thick layering of paint. Through this exhibition, we will be able to see the influence that these Dutch landscape painters had on Monet's artwork and what elements he adopted from these 17th century landscape artists. To observe this shift in his art, we will start off with a painting from before Monet's time in Holland, and then we will see artworks of these 17th century Dutch artists alongside Monet's art that he created during his time in the Netherlands.
Artist: Claude Monet
Title: Seine at Bougival in the Evening
Date: 1869
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60 x 73.3 cm
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
This is a depiction of the Seine River that Monet painted before his time in the Netherlands. He uses many different colors that are vibrant and in sharp contrast to each other. The left half of the painting is comprised of light colors as the sky is a vibrant yellow, and the water is reflecting the yellow sky. However, on the right side, the sky takes on a darker blue sky, and the land is depicted with a dark green. The lines are very gestural, and the shapes of the houses are undefined. Monet also uses brush strokes that exaggerate the texture of the painting and give the landscape a rough look to it.
Artist: Jan van Goyen
Title: Castle by a River
Date: 1647
Medium: oil on wood
Dimensions: 66 x 97.2 cm
MET: 64.65.1
In this painting, Jan van Goyen has paints a large castle on a river with an overcast sky and a boat on the left side with men who are casting a net and fishing. His color palette consists mostly of pale yellows and light browns with a little bit of green and blue. There are no sharp contrasts in value within this painting which gives the painting a dull look to it. The lines in this painting are very crisp as the castle is very defined. The painting has a very smooth appearances as the brush strokes are not evident unlike Monet's painting above.
Artist: Salomon van Ruysdael
Title: Fishing Boats on a River
Date: early 1660s
Medium: oil on wood
Dimensions: overall, with added strips, 37.5 x 55.6 cm; painted surface 36.2 x 54 cm
MET: 2005.331.8
Salomon van Ruysdael depicts a scene of fishing boats on a river with an overcast sky in the background. In this painting, he mostly uses dark colors such as gray and dark brown with a little bit of blue and white in the sky. Similar to van Goyen's painting, this one has a dull look to it as there are no vibrant colors used and there is minimal contrast in lighting. The lines within this painting are sharply defined as the boats have a definite shape to them. Van Ruysdael uses brush strokes that give the water a smooth, glassy look to it, and the overall texture of the painting looks smooth to the touch.
Artist: Aelbert Cuyp
Title: Young Herdsman with Cows
Date: 1655-60
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 112.1 x 132.4 cm
MET: 14.40.616
Aelbert Cuyp paints a peaceful landscape of cows on a hill overlooking a river with the herdsman in the background. The main colors in this painting are yellow, green, and blue, and while there is some contrast between the light sky on the left and the dark clouds on the right, the colors are not vibrant which creates a dull look similar to van Goyen's and van Ruysdael's paintings. The objects within the painting are also clearly defined as Cuyp pays great attention to detail with the leaves in the forefront of the painting, the cows, and even the bird in the sky.
Artist: Claude Monet
Title: Houses on the Achterzaan
Date: 1871
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 44.1 x 67.3 cm
MET: 1875.1.196
In this painting, Claude Monet depicts a peaceful landscape of houses on a river with a sailboat floating next to them. His color palette consists of mostly green, yellows, and oranges with a hint of blue in the sky and water. He uses very little value within this painting, and he uses no bright colors that stand in contrast to each other. While the objects in the background are undefined and have a fuzzy look to them, the houses on the left side of the painting and the sailboat are clearly defined with definite lines. While the painting still has a rough look to it because of Monet's brush strokes, it looks smoother than the previous painting by Monet that we observed at the start of this exhibition.
Artist: Claude Monet
Title: Windmills near Zaandam
Date: 1871
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 48.3 x 74.2 cm
Van Gogh Musem, Amsterdam, Holland
Claude Monet paints a landscape with a river in the forefront and a bridge and windmills in the background. The main colors that Monet uses are blue, red, and green with some brown. While the red on the windmills and the green shoreline do stand out a bit in the painting, Monet does not use a lot of contrast in lighting within this painting. Monet uses a muted blue and gray for the sky and water to create an overcast look, which contributes to the dullness of the painting as well. The lines and shapes in this landscape are not as clearly defined as they were in the previous 17th century Dutch landscapes, but the bridge and the windmills are still clearly defined shapes in the background. The brush strokes within this painting are much more blended which gives it a smooth appearance compared to the first painting by Monet that we saw at the beginning of the exhibition.
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