The Impressionist movement in the mid to late nineteenth century was full of exploration and capturing of moments as they are noticed by the artist. Artists such as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir and Paul Cezanne created works of art spontaneously on the spot, often outdoors, rather than the traditional way of painting from memory in a studio. They captured nature and everyday life in a new and exploratory manner, noticing greater details in light and color and captured these shifts and patterns in a way that couldn’t really be done in a studio. These Impressionist painters often painted landscapes and other natural scenes as well as scenes from everyday life, and would turn to painting things like floral still lifes when weather didn’t allow for them to capture nature in the form of plant life, outdoors. Monet in particular, spent much of his time capturing flowers from his garden in floral still lifes he arranged. This show displays a collection of such still lifes, from many of the great Impressionist painters, all painted within around a twenty year range of each other. These pieces, while being from around the same time period, and from artists who were contemporaries with each other and members of the same movement, have some very prominent similarities, yet quite a few differences as well. By looking at these pieces alongside each other, viewers can see and compare the unique hand and stroke of each artist, while at the same time, more clearly identify the characteristics of Impressionist artwork, through their many similarities.
Chrysanthemums
Claude Monet
1882
Oil on canvas
MET: 239.100.106
Claude Monet is one of the most prominent and influential Impressionists to which the name of Impressionism itself we can attribute. Throughout the late 1870s and early 1880s, Monet spent much of his time capturing the flowers and plants he so loved to paint in his garden and around him outdoors, in an indoor setting. Chrysanthemums, one of his many floral still lifes, captures the flowers as they are in an impressionist manner, falling all around including on the table rather than in an idealized bouquet common in a more classical style of painting.
Vase Of Lilacs And Roses
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
1870
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Pink Peonies
Camille Pissarro
1873
Oil on canvas
WA1951.225.1
Camille Pissaro’s approach to capturing the very essence of flowers, somewhat differs from the style of other Impressionists such as Monet, Renoir, or Cezanne. While such artists as those previously mentioned, did paint with a certain softness, due to their emphasis on the form and texture found in their paintings, Pissaro’s approach to painting using elements of transparency allowing for the canvas to show through, as well as painting with a wet on wet technique, create and even greater softness, not found in the works of many of his contemporaries.
Dahlias
Berthe Morisot
1876
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Flowers In A Blue Vase
Paul Cezanne
C. 1875
Oil on canvas
Hermitage Museum ГЭ-8954
Still Life With Anemones
Claude Monet
1885
Oil on canvas
19 ¼ x 14 in.
Private Collection
Although many of the Impressionist floral still lifes display a very similar form and use of space, with a single vase full of flowers on a table, there are still quite a few that capture flowers in a similar manner, while focusing more on the flowers themselves including many pots and the plant life seemingly taking over, such as seen in this painting by Monet, as well as those of Frederic Bazille. Through his use of colors in this specific floral still life, Monet appears to spontaneously capture the color and light of the natural world in a more striking manner.
Study Of Flowers
Frederic Bazille
1866
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
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