Monet’s paintings at Argenteuil

We sailed into summer this past week with several interpretations of Monet’s paintings

at Argenteuil on the River Seine. In 1874 Monet spent five years painting at Argenteuil,

spending much time on a boat converted into a floating studio. These were formative

in his study of the effects of light and reflections. He began to think of flat planes with

colors and shapes rather than depicting scenes with details. He used bright colors in dabs

and dashes and squiggles of paint to capture the fleeting light reflecting on water,

producing some of his most beautiful paintings and a prelude to his famous Water Lily

paintings.

 As a young man, Monet traveled to Paris to visit the Louvre, where he witnessed painters 

copying from the old masters. Having brought his paints and other tools with him, he 

would instead go and sit by a window and paint what he saw. Disillusioned 

with the art establishment, Monet created a community with other frustrated artists 

including Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cézanne. They 

called themselves” The Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, & Printmakers”. 

Together they shared new approaches to art, painting the effects of light in nature with broken 

color with quickly applied brushstrokes. They were considered rebels who blatantly 

created paintings outside of the established norm of realism and to free themselves 

from the constraints of the Salon De Paris. The term "Impressionism",  

 originated from the title of Monet’s painting, "Impression of Sunrise, which was exhibited

 in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates. 

After he married, in 1883 Monet and his family lived outside of Paris in the countryside 

village of Giverny, where he purchased a house and property. He began a vast 

landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his 

best-known works. When he designed his famous water garden, he did not intend to

paint the water lilies that would forever define him and change the face of modern art.

Monet ‘s lifetime of breaking with tradition made him the driving force behind Impressionism.

He tirelessly explored the effects of light on color and objects, often painting the same subject

dozens of times at different times of the day in the ever-changing light. His garden became

his most famous work of art, and he painted it over 250 times. 

________________________________________________________________________

Have a great summer and as always, thank you to the students and families for another year and

support of the program. A special nod to my fifth graders who have been in the class

for several years, thank you for all of the great art and memories,

you will be missed. Keep creating and best wishes in your next chapter.

Cheers, Serene

The class did several versions of Monet's paintings on River Seine. We began with pen and watercolor

studies and then oil pastels. They captured many nuances of water and light. The reflections were

especially important to the pieces as well as the highlights in the sky and water and they were

amazing at observing and applying those to create lovely images.