Normandy's Visual Poet:
Claude Monet
The accompanying catalogue for any art exhibit should be resplendent with gorgeous images of the included artwork. Monet in Normandy should not
and does not disappoint in this to-be-expected inclusion. It's the accompanying essays that demonstrate whether the catalogue is
reflective of such a splendid exhibition.
Richard Brettell contributes three essays delving into Normandy. Monet created hundred of paintings of the
French province where he was raised and made his home at Giverny. His
first forays into the artistic world were to create and sell
caricatures of the famous and also of locals or tourists. These works provided a small income to him. It was in Normandy
at the framer's shop where Monet displayed and sold these
caricatures that he first met Eugene Boudin. The respected painter recognized Monet's talent and had a simple query for the
eighteen-year old future Impressionist master, "why don't you paint?" Monet joined Boudin in an outdoor painting session and from that moment his future career was selected.
Title: The Cliff Walk, Pourville, 1882
(also known as Walk on the Cliff, Pourville)
Artist: Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 26-1/8 x 32-7/16 inches
Signed and dated lower left: Claude Monet 82
Permanent Collection: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Image Courtesy: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Brettell explores the past history of Normandy before Monet came along. There is far more to the area than the D-Day landings for which
the name "Normandy" has come to envision; the allies landing and fierce battles. There is also Monet's serene country views.
Art fans are well aware that the Impressionist name came from Monet's imagery of dawn breaking over Le Havre, the port city of Normandy, in a painting entitled Impression: Sunrise. Brettell
observes that
the theme of the exhibit is to place these artworks and other Monet images as "Norman" and
contrast them with other landscapes of the area that Monet likely would have known.
The essayist notes that the Rouen cathedral series is often overlooked as being Norman, though the city of Rouen itself is in the heart of Normandy, and has great historical significance. It was in Rouen where Joan of Arc was tried and executed as a heretic.
Of note; less than a handful of Monet's Normandy images remain in that province, akin to the Tahitian works of Gauguin and Provencal imagery of Cezanne, where all but a few of these masterpieces actually remain in the place that inspired them.
The artwork is magnificent and set within the context of Brettell's text this catalogue is a fine example of placing the artwork in perspective and providing a 'new' look at a favored subject: Monet and Impressionism using his breathtaking views of the landscape he loved.
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