Wednesday, June 4, 2013
“A total Monet” is an expression used to someone or something that looks good from far away, but up close is a total mess.
•This expression comes from the movie, Clueless.
•It refers to the impressionistic styling of Claude Monet
Suggested Prompts:
•Write a story featuring a Monet
•Defend impressionistic art
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting. The impressionist’s philosophy was to express one’s perceptions before nature.
Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) by Nadar in 1899
The term Impressionism is derived from the title of Monet’s painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant) painted in 1872. Impression, Sunrise hung in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Art critic, Louis Leroy coined the term ‘Impressionism” from the painting’s title. He intended it as a ridicule, but the Impressionists devoted the term for themselves.
Courtesy of http://www.kunstkopie.devianart.com via Yahoo Images
Impression, Sunrise focuses on the calm feeling of a misty sunrise over a foggy harbor. Shadows of beauty are incorporated into the painting, mixing cool, dull colors with splashes of warm colors.
It is my opinion that one would have to be ‘clueless’ to suggest a Monet looked better from a far, rather than up close. Only upon close examination can one find and appreciate Monet’s artistic style. Claude Monet was known for capturing viewers’ attention with meaningful design and simple, casual scenes. Monet captured the true nature of his subject’s; the natural effects of an outdoor scene.
Over time, Monet’s painting techniques evolved and matured from the type he implemented in Impression, Sunrise to that seen in his later, larger paintings such as his water lilies. Monet spent the last thirty years of his life painting water lilies in different compositions, a series of 250 paintings.
Water Lilies 1908 Courtesy of http://www.1artclub.com via Yahoo Images
Water Lilies 1915 Courtesy of http://www.lifesamyth.com via Yahoo Images
Claude Monet painted many paintings during his life time, but Impression, Sunrise remains his most famous painting.
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References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet
http://blogs.longwood.edu/incite/2012/01/30/analysis-of-claude-monet%E2%80%99s-impression-sunrise/
http://www.sedefscorner.com/2011/05/claude-monet-water-lilies-series.html
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I wonder what his obsession with water lilies was all about. They are beautiful and pretty fascinating but to spend 30 years painting them? Wow!
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“It is my opinion that one would have to be ‘clueless’ to suggest a Monet looked better from a far, rather than up close. Only upon close examination can one find and appreciate Monet’s artistic style.” – Well said! I agree…I’m a fan of impressionism and very often it’s for the wild precision of the brushstroke, not the faraway image. It’s at least equivalently beautiful up close!
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🙂
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