Learning to Look
Lesson 3
Impressionist Portraits
Impressionist and Post Impressionist Art
Introduction: (5 min)
Good morning students. Our names are ______and ______and we are here for another great session of LTL.
Today we are going to look at 2 paintings by the French artist, Claude Monet, who was one of the leading members of the Impressionists. You may remember his name from the front class. We looked at Manet’s painting of the Monet Family in the Garden.
The Impressionists were bored with the rules and standard of the French Academy. Instead of historic subjects, romantic views, and idealized portraits, they tried to paint exactly what they saw—an even greater naturalism. They wanted to capture the moment including the reflections of light on the surface of objects. They sought to paint visual sensations—what the eye sees at a glace—not what the brain knows or what style or conventions dictate.
In order to capture the changing effects of light on a subject, where do you suppose Monet usually did his painting, in the studio or outside?
Outside…unlike earlier artists who sketched outside but then returned to the studio to paint the finished product, Monet and other Impressionist painting their entire canvases out-of-doors.
This type of painting is called plein-air (open air)
Because Monet was so interested in capturing natural night he painted a lot of Landscape paintings.
The uses 2 inventions from the late 19th century which made his work outside easier, the portable easel and oil paints in tubes with screwable caps.
Now lets take a look at 2 of Monet’s paintings.
Eye Exercises:
Open your big like an owl. Close your eyes tight like a mouse. Look up, look down, look left, look right. Open your eyes big, close your eyes tight, now we are ready to look.
Impressionist Portraits: (7 min)
Painting 1
Garden at Sainte-Adresse (also called Terrace at Sainte-Adresse)
Claude Monet
Turn the picture around and do not reveal the title.
What is the picture of?
A garden and water, two of Monet’s favorite subjects.
This painting is called Garden at Sainte Adresse. It shows the Monet Family property at Sainte Adresse overlooking the English Channel in the North of France.
Do you notice the people in the painting? Are they important? Could they be the subject?
No. You cannot see their faces and they don't seem to be the focus of the painting.
If this is not a portrait, what type of painting could it be there?
A landscape.
A picture in which a view of the land is most important.
Landscapes and seascapes were very important to the Impressionists because they usually worked out-of-doors. Monet especially liked to paint landscapes because of his interest in reflected light. This was one of Monet’s earliest works and is considered the first truly Impressionist painting. Let’s see why.
If you were painting outside to capture the moment, would you paint slowly with lots of detail, or quickly with less detail?
Quickly with less detail.
Monet sometimes worked only 15 minutes on a particular painting and then came back to it at the same time the next day.
What might change in 15 minutes time?
The weather
The angle of the sun and the shadows
What type of brush strokes suggest this type of rapid glance?
Loose, broken brush strokes that don't smooth over or hid the texture of the paint.
Do you find certain areas of this painting that are painted more sketchily and loosely than others? Where?
The flowers and water are more sketchey. Other areas are more clear, traditional, smooth and detailed. All of Monet’s art a few years later becomes splashes of color.
What colors does Monet use most frequently in this painting?
Red, blue, yellow, green and white.
Are his colors bright or dull?
Very bright.
He has used the primary colors as vivid accents.
Another hallmark of Impressionist painting is its bright palette.
Is this a formal or informal scene?
It’s informal, a causal gathering of Monet’s family of the terrace of their home. The Impressionists favored casual scenes from everyday life.
Where is the viewer standing?
Above the scene, looking down.
Monet painted this picture from an upstairs window in the house.
How would you divide this picture into three parts?
Horizontally: Terrace, Water, Sky
Where do you find strong vertical lines?
The flagpoles, standing figures, flowers, fence, and masts.
What other type of lines can you find?
Curved lines: chair backs, mounds of flowers, sails, parasols
This painting in the essence of Impressionism in that it captures the moment so accurately that we can determine the time of year, the time of day and the weather.
What season do you think is shown here? Look at the flowers for a hint.
Summer
Gladioli (tall spiky red flowers at left and right)and geraniums (red flowers in center)bloom in the summer
From what direction is the sunlight coming?
The upper left.
By the length of the shadows at this particular location, the time of day has been determined as 10:30am.
What is the quality of light? Bright and strong, or dull and weak?
Bright and strong. The brilliance of the light reflecting off the water heighten the colors and casts strong shadows.
What clues do you find that tell us about the weather?
Breezy- indicated by the flags, the smoke from the stacks of ships, and the choppy water.
Sunny-indicated by the blue sky, bright light on the terrace and the strong shadows.
Why are the ladies carrying umbrellas?
They’re not umbrellas; they’re parasols. They protect the ladies skin from sunburn. Un-tanned skinned was the fashion in the 19th Century.
What is the overall mood of this painting?
Happy, pleasant, relaxed.
Monet painting this painting at a time in his life when he was so poor he often didn't have enough money to buy decent food or art supplies. Yet none of his financial difficulties and artistic frustrations is even hinted at in this sunny work.
Second Painting (7 min)
The Four Trees
Claude Monet
Reveal the painting without telling the students the name.
What is Monet depicting in this painting?
Four trees along a riverbank. That’s the title, The Four Trees.
This painting was formerly entitled Poplars after the type of tree it depicts.
Can you find any other poplar trees in this picture?
There is a row of yellow trees in the background.
Does anyone know what the word “motif” means?
The same design or subject that is repeated.
Monet painted twenty-three painting of poplars over 10 months.
Can you see any reflections?
The trees are reflected in the water at the bottom of the canvas.
Where do you think the artist was when he painted this scene?
In a boat on the river.
Monet had a special broad-bottomed boat built with grooves to hold his canvases and easel.
What is the artist’s viewpoint? Where is Monet looking?
He is looking up at the trees and depicts only the trunks of the four trees in the foreground, unlike those in the background whose leafy tops are visible.
Interesting Story:
In the summer and fall of 1891 Monet became fascinated with this row of trees along the river near his home. He heard the trees were going to be cut down for lumber and arranged for them to be purchased and saved until he was done painting them. He wanted to paint a series of these trees at different times of the day and under different weather conditions. Monet believed the light was always changing and in order to capture the light you must work quickly. He said it only took 7 minutes for the light to leave a leaf. He would store a number of canvases in the slots in his boat, and take out the one that matched the light conditions and time of day for that exact moment. Monet exhibited 15 of the poplars paintings in 1892.
What is abstract about this painting? To put it another way, how has Monet simplified these trees so that they no longer look like trees?
He has emphasized their verticality.
They look like four vertical lines crossed by the horizontal of the riverbank.
These lines create an abstract pattern or design that is decorative rather than realistic.
Monet flattened the image. If the artist were applying the rules of perspective, the reflections of the tree trunks would have been drawn diagonally to the horizon line of the riverbank, not perpendicular to it as shown here.
Why does the scene appear blurry?
Certain light conditions make it hard for us to see the clear outlines of forms. The pictures blurriness emphasizes the quality of the light and the sense that Monet is capturing his first impression of color and light not of detailed lines and shapes.
Monet explained how he painted what he saw…
“When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you—a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue here is an oblong of pink, here is a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naïve impression of the scene before you.”
What time of day do you think it is? Why?
Most viewers believe this painting depicts twilight because of Monet’s use of lavender to suggest the dimming light.
Can you tell what season it is from looking at this scene?
The tops of the poplar trees in the distance are ablaze with the yellow color of changing leaves in the fall.
What is naturalistic or real about this scene?
The shimmering reflections on water, the trees, and the colored light of dusk
Are there any people in this scene?
No from the 1880s on Monet painted few human beings in his art.
What are all the colors Monet has used to paint the foliage along the riverbank?
Green, blue, purple, lavender, red, yellow, pink, coral.
Do you see any earth tones (browns or blacks)?
No. Monet uses yellow to indicate bright light and blue or violet for the shadows. The impressionists for the most part did not use black to paint shadows. Instead, they discovered that shadows contain the reflected colors of the objects around them.
How did Monet apply his paint, in long, smooth strokes or in short dabs of paint?
In short dabs of paint.
Colors mixed on a palette are somewhat muddy, so Monet placed the pure colors side by side on the canvas and let the eye blend them. This created a livelier effect.
Do you think Monet’s paintings are meant to be viewed up close or at a distance?
Monet’s objects are more recognizable at a distance because when the viewer is up too close, all he or she sees is the distinct dabs and splashes of color and not how they blend together to form specific objects.
Japanese Influence in Painting
Many of Monet’s paintings showed a Japanese influence. In fact, a Japanese print of poplar trees may have influenced his painting The Four Trees. He owned many Japanese prints. Many of Monet’s other paintings featured a Japanese style bridge in the middle, over the lake of lilies. Construct your own drawing of the bridge and lake of lilies. You can use masking, electrical or washi tape to construct the bridge on your paper. Then use craypas to construct the rest of your painting. Finally peel the tap to discover your beautiful bridge!