The Haystacks Monet: Creuse Valley Series

During his ‘Dutch’ period, Van Gogh’s subject matter was primarily focused on the lifestyle of the poor and the bible (Dubecky). In his ‘French’ period, Van Gogh had begun to shift his focus to drawing nude figures and portraits. Monet, conversely, liked to paint his subject matters in series. He would paint “the same subject at different times of the day in different lights” (Brown 1536). Some series that he painted included water lilies, bridges, and haystacks. Something that Van Gogh and Monet both really took passion in is basing their art on their life experiences. They both painted their surroundings such as landscapes, seascapes, and people around them. Van Gogh would also draw still lifes of food and would paint paintings based on his emotions during his recovered bouts of mental illness.

Claude Monet is one of the most familiar and best loved of all Western artists. His images of poppy fields, poplar trees, water lilies and elegant ladies in blossoming gardens are familiar to people who have never seen the original paintings and may never have visited an art gallery. Monet's works have won a place in the affection of the general public that seems almost without parallel. (Rachman, 4) In the decades since his death in 1926, Monet's work has been intensely studied by a variety of art critics. However, none of his works have been as deeply studied as those done in Giverny, in the early twentieth century. During this time Monet's paintings, which focused on specific subject matter from various viewpoints,

There are many artists in the world who have a passionate desire for their work and put all the effort into their compositions, producing wonderful creations, especially the decade of artwork that Vincent Van Gogh made while dealing with hardships in his life. The Wheat Field with Cypresses, was one of many landscape pieces that were made during his time in the mental asylum in Saint Remy whenever he would go on break. This oil on canvas, image depicts a bright open field surrounded in dark green olive trees along with a cypress tree that draws the viewer into the mesmerizing sky. The viewer can see the texture quality in the overall composition because of the thick brush strokes that protrudes out of the painting, which gives the wheat fields a lifelike description as well as for the trees and curvy swirls of the sky. This informs the audience that the artist used plenty of different colored layers on top of each other to add a sense of movement in the composition.

Splitting from the tradition, Monet painted the same image several times over, at different times of the day, under changing weather conditions, and rather than finishing them all on the spot, had them taken back to France, sometimes with photographers to refresh the memory of the scenes. This caused some upset, though the quality of his work still had not declined. Exceptionally enough, this piece dates to before his development of cataracts and subsequent removal operations (causing him to see more vivid hues of blue), and the paints are still blended masterfully to give a rendition of fog cover on the riverbanks.

Pierre Auguste Renoir made his mark historically on the surfaces of his paintings by using small dabs of pigment that were applied uniformly, but his brush strokes were somewhat nervous, but yet he used the sunlight effects that were achieved with colored shadows, and loose brushwork.

French history is filled with an amazing culture that consists of beautiful architecture and delicious food. One aspect of French culture that stands out is its Art. Among the famous artists that have contributed over the years, one artists name stands out among the rest, Claude Monet. Claude Monet is known for being one of the influential artists to introduce impressionism. In a style not previously before painted, impressionism depicted a landscape or scene by creating illusion through the use of shading and coloring. Traditional painting was produced in an art studio, but impressionism was a unique. It allowed the artist to shed the use of a studio and step out into nature. Monet and other famous artists launched this new style of art that challenged traditional painting and would forever change French culture and influence art for many years to come.

In the year of 1840 little did France, let alone the world, know that it was a year to be put in the history books. On this beautiful year a man of great recognition in the art world was born. The founding father of Impressionism, Claude Monet. He had been a painter of a new style. One of his paintings titled “Across the Meadow” was simply one of the art pieces among a multitude of other phenomenal impressionist works he had completed.

Vincent Van Gogh’s practice of producing repetitions was far more extensive and vibrant to his creative process than is commonly recognized. His work used to describe his process of producing more than one version of a composition, texture, and color. Other artists like Edgar Degas Ballerinas series and Susanna Coffey portraits both develop similar repetition works. Many artists gained knowledge regarding to the materials when they constantly producing work using the same medium.

He was a guy that raised and grew everything he almost ate. He had free ranged turkeys and chickens. It was crazy to find out that he was so into growing in his garden and raising these animals while being a very influential painter (Bordman & Fell 2015). They say he could connect with nature very well and therefore surround him with all of this food. Since Claude was able to connect with nature so well he was able to see beauty in things that others could not see. He was living in a pink house that had all of his gardens and plants around it that he loved so dearly. The garden behind his pink house almost looked like a painting in how he had it so welly organized with the families of food grouped together and the trees that apples that took a lot of space bordering the outside boundary of the yard (Bordman & Fell 2015). . This all comes to a surprise to me that he was so into gardening and painting, but like Meryl Sheep says that “Claude Monet was much more than an artist. Although he claimed to be good at only two of life's endeavours – painting and gardening – he lived a life that included entertaining leaders in art and politics in the large dining room of his beautiful home in the bucolic Normandy countryside.” This shows how he was a very unique guy that was in this world (Bordman & Fell 2015).

Prominent members of the group included Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Degas. Typical characteristics of paintings from the Impressionist artists might include landscapes and urban scenes with bright colours, long thin visible brushstrokes and a focus on accurately portraying light. The early group were inspired by artists like J.M.W. Turner and his use of colour. Like Turner, impressionists often let the colour guide their painting. A core idealism of the movement was to trying to capture light at a particular moment. To do this they often decided to paint en plein air, they found this gave the paintings a sense of freshness. Multiple techniques were combined from artists like Velásquez, Constable and Turner. These techniques included impasta, making grey and dark tones from complementary colours and an emphasis on natural light. By combining these techniques of the past they created a new creative style of painting. Another common technique among the artists included the use of complementary colours as this was thought to bring out deeper and brighter colours with the paintings. One of the core ideas of impressionism linked to the same idea of spontaneity is to show an experience and to think about what the mind would see. For example not painting in all the faces in the background, only the ones in the interest of the painting and the audience.

Van Gogh stares at guests with such solemn eyes that seem to be all colors at once. Claude Monet takes you to the French country side that are covered in swaying pastures of yellow wildflowers and haystacks. The relaxed posed of Renoir’s nude female models shows the realistic ideas the impressionism artists had for the future of art. They painted the true colors of the world around them and present them to us as we pass through the hallways. There is a muffled quietness in the exhibit as everyone observes the sound the paintings reflect as though trying to here the gentle breeze in Monet’s painting of water lilies. Everyone gathers to gaze at George Seurat’s meticulous work that covers an expansive wall which barely contains the impressive effort. Cameras flash trying to capture the unique and awe-inspiring talent and dedication that made Seurat famous but none are able. No one can truly capture the detail and dedication that all artists put into their work through photos, you have to stand right in front of it to come

In Monet’s painting, there is an extraordinary use of colour and texture which brings out the meaning that nature is spectacular. First, the colours are green, blue, yellow, and white which are the colours mostly found in nature. The blue in the water is the same blue used in the sky. Also, further out in the painting it’s dark blue which suggest that there is a shadow from a cloud. To continue, the clouds are white, but is almost pink ;therefore, the sun seems to be rising. In addition, the flowers have hints of yellow and white which helps to make the flowers stand out. Next, the water has the reflection of the trees so there are different colours in the water ;in fact, texture helps to make the reflection, by using the ripples in the water

The Article was last updated March 2010. Information was also found on The Vincent van Gogh gallery website at vggallary.com, it was written and published by David Brooks and last updated 24 February 2016). Vincent van Gogh had a short career of only 10 years. Being born in 1853 he did not start painting until he was 27. Van Gogh shot himself 10 years after starting his career. In those 10 years van Gogh created more than 2,000 pieces of art. The first two years of van Gogh’s career he was self taught and learned by copying other artists work. He later moved to Paris, then the Netherlands, Belgium, and back to France. During these years van Gogh experimented with many different themes in his art. He started with copying prints and then progressed to landscapes. During the winter of 1884 he painted a series of present life. Van Gogh is most know for his still life portraits and his nature portraits which he composed while in Arles, France. It is here that he had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized for slicing his ear. After recovering van Gogh continued to paint and even used the term “sung a lullaby with color” when describing his paintings. Color was a main factor in all of van Gogh’s work and important to him as he believed that one should learn to paint in black and white before moving on to color. For this lesson students will focus on van Gogh’s use of colors throughout his career. Van Gogh was very good at using complimentary colors to make objects and scenes stand out.

When entering the room, people crowded around Monet’s pieces, which felt like an honor to see the type and techniques his work has. The colors describe the feeling of an early morning. The painting has a muted palette of blues, greens, and grays. The sunrise is orange and yellow which are surrounded by the clouds and smoke from steamboats. Three boats are shapes and visible while the rest fade into the distance. This painting is an example of plein air or outdoor painting. I also notice that Monet layered the colors so that when I viewed the painting from a far distance I knew what the painting was about however when I looked at it up close I saw brush strokes and

Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840 and would become known as one of France’s famous painters. Monet is often attributed with being the leading figure of the style of impressionism; but this was not always the case. Monet started out his career as a caricaturist, showing great skill. Eventually “Monet began to accompany [Eugène] Boudin as the older artist . . . worked outdoors, . . . this “truthful” painting, Monet later claimed, had determined his path as an artist.” Monet’s goal took off as his popularity grew in the mid 1870s after he switched from figure painting to the landscape impressionist style. William Seitz supports this statement through his quote, “The landscapes Monet painted at Argenteuil between 1872 and 1877 are