This image was painted by an artist named Claude Monet who was born on 14th November 1840 and died on 5th December 1926. He was the founder of French Impressionist paintings and is known as the most consistent artist of expressing his views of nature. Impressionism is an art-movement from the 19th century that began with a group of Paris-based artists. Their artwork became well known during the 1870s and 1880s. The name of this style of work actually comes from a specific piece of work by Claude Monet himself, which I am going to analyse. This piece is called Impression Sunrise (photo above). Typical characteristics of an impressionist painting include: an open composition, thin brush strokes, ordinary subject matter, movement of features within the photo as an element of perception, everyday subject matter whether landscape or documentary and sometimes unusual view points.
Claude Monet painted this art piece in 1872 using Le Havre, in France as the subject matter. He gave an explanation of the title 'Impression, Sunrise' where he said:
Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le Havre from, my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats sticking up in the foreground. ... They asked me for a title for the catalogue, it couldn't really be taken for a view of Le Havre, and I said: 'Put Impression.' He also said: 'Impression—I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.'
Claude Monet uses a mixture of contrasting colours; dark and pale blue, orange and green tones. I think that the use of colour is what Monet has used to portray his 'impression' of the landscape which conveys a slightly calm mood as it reflects the typical colour of the sea, with the smooth, thin brush strokes imitating the motion and movement of the sea. The composition of the aspects of this painting is very interesting as it is a natural setting, therefore Claude Monet painted what he saw rather than setting it up. Just below the centre of the area lies three row boats that fade off into the distance, the further you look across the landscape, this vision of depth has been portrayed with the use of different tones of the same colour paint, allowing the two boats in the background to look like figures. Also slightly off the centre, in the other direction (right) is an image of a bright orange sun with its reflection creating a clear, bright path through the ripples of the sea which has been created with some brush strokes bolder than others. I think that the use of the bolder brush strokes have been used to create distinctive patterns, highlighting the/portraying movement. Although the sun is a clear feature of the painting, depth is depicted through the use of colour tones; Monet has used dark shades towards the front of the landscape which fade further along/up the scape, where the colours contrast and mix creating a serene looking environment as well as mood for the viewers.
As I have enjoyed analyzing and looking at the work of Claude Monet, I will use his work as an inspiration for my experimentation. I could do this by digitally manipulating my own photos on landscapes I enjoy looking at, using Photoshop.
