Impressionism, of which he was the greatest exponent, was slow in being accepted by the general public, and by the early 1880s the majority of its founder members had moved away from its restrictive style and subject matter. He spent the last 40 years of his life at his home at Giverny, 50 miles west of Paris, and it was here that he embarked on a “series” of paintings to depict a particular subject in various conditions of light and season, such as Haystacks, the façade of Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, and the Water Lilies in his own garden. On his return, he lived at Argenteuil for a time, and it was there, working alongside his colleagues, that he produced some of his finest works, such as The Seine Basin near Argenteuil, Poppies Blooming, and St. During the Franco- Prussian War of 1870/71 he took refuge in London, where he painted a number of realist views, including his famous The Thames below Westminster. His works of this period included Bathers at La Grenouillère and The Beach at Trouville. Monet, who gave the movement its name by his work of 1872 entitled Impression, Sunrise, began painting scenes in the forest of Fontainebleau or on the north coast at Honfleur and Le Havre in the 1860s, accompanied by various members of the group. They painted out of doors and attempted by rapid, broken brush strokes and strong colours to capture at a precise moment the colour, light and movement of an ordinary, everyday scene. Taking their lead from Monet, they broke away from the restrictions imposed by the artistic hierarchy in Paris and, each in his own way, adopted the basic aims of the new art form. Xxxxx As we have seen (1863), it was the French painter Édouard Manet who became the nominal head of the Impressionists, a group of young artists which included Claude Monet, Pierre- Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas.
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