September 11, 2012
Cathedral in Rouen, portal in gray tone
1892; 100x65 cm
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Cathedrals are another famous series Monet, consisting of thirty canvases. The artist decides to concentrate on individual fragments of the Gothic cathedral and chooses the portal, the tower of St. Martin and the tower of Alban. He is solely interested in the play of light on the stone; sky and earth almost cease to exist.
Since dawn, Monet has been waiting: in accordance with his technology, he paints many canvases of the same fragment in order to capture the corresponding light effects. “The faster my work progresses, the more difficult it is to show what I feel. All night I was tormented by nightmares: the cathedral was falling on me, it was either blue, then pink, then yellow,” he confides in his friend and future biographer, Gustave Geffroy.
Rouen Cathedral in the sun
1894; 107x73 cm
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
After returning from Rouen, Monet leaves the paintings unpacked. If he takes one of them out, it is only to continue working on it. Expected by everyone Rouen series will be presented only in 1895. The artist wants the twenty paintings from the “Cathedrals” series to be sold not one at a time, but as a whole series, despite the fact that each of them is valued at 15,000 francs!
« Cathedrals in Rouen” cause conflicting reactions, although Cézanne, Pissarro and Clemenceau accept them with enthusiasm. Clemenceau even writes an article “The Revolution of the Cathedrals” and says that “a stationary object emphasizes the movement of light with great force.”
Against Monet's wishes, The Cathedrals of Rouen were sold to different persons, and today they can be found in museums in France, the United States and Russia.
« Cathedrals in Rouen"influenced many artists of the 20th century. French artist Foutrir said that this series radically changed the way of thinking of several generations of artists. The American Roy Lichtenstein, in three works published in 1969 entitled “The Cathedral of Rouen,” directly addresses the theme proposed by Monet.
Rouen Cathedral at noon
1894
Museum named after Pushkin, Moscow
Technical Note
Over time, Monet applied a thicker layer of paint to the canvas each time, the highlighting of individual colors being less noticeable than at the beginning of his work.
Claude Monet is an outstanding impressionist artist of the 19th century. His paintings surprise with their freshness and naturalism. Monet painted very vividly, was attentive to the smallest details and masterfully conveyed the color scheme.
Impressionism
Art critics around the world consider Claude Monet one of the iconic representatives of the movement called “impressionism.” This trend in world painting was created by several artists and quickly spread in Europe. The main idea of the Impressionist school was to convey the impression that the landscape made, right on the spot. Formerly artists they worked in workshops, drawing non-existent landscapes or some things from memory. The new direction broke stereotypes about painting in general.
Claude Monet: the beginning of the journey
Impressionists refreshed landscape painting and made it more realistic, albeit in exchange for detailing and “slicking” of the composition. The naturalness of the paintings of such artists is more fascinating than the decorative fantasies of the early masters. Claude Monet did not immediately join the Impressionists, due to his age. As a young man, he met one of the founders of the school, Eugene Boudin. This man went on walks with Monet and helped him learn to draw from life. Despite the age difference, Eugene saw talent in Monet, and both artists were also teachers
About the series of paintings “Rouen Cathedral”
Rouen Cathedral is not only about architecture. This is also the name of a series of stunning works by Claude Monet. His paintings look like many copies of photographs, each of which has some kind of filter applied. However, if you look closely, you can find many differences. Each work depicts the cathedral differently than the previous one. It's all about the lighting. IN different times day the source of light - the sun - is in different points firmament. By illuminating the composition of the cathedral in different ways, the luminary changes the location of the shadows on the building, creating bizarre shapes.
It is impossible to imagine how much the artist loved this miracle of architecture if he painted so many paintings with its image. From Monet’s paintings, the cathedral appears to the viewer in a completely different way: mysterious, lost or confident, cheerful. Weather conditions change the atmosphere of the painting, and with it the mood that the artist conveys.
Creativity in the fate of Claude Monet
In addition to facts, any work of art is influenced. Thus, an artist in a bad mood will never paint a light, joyful picture. Using the “Rouen Cathedral” series, you can not only imagine the vagaries of the weather in the city, but also state of mind Claude Monet.
The period of life during which the work on “The Cathedral” occurred was extremely difficult for the painter. He doubted, but still created for several years. Sometimes Monet did not finish his work on the spot, but completed it in the studio. However, this did not make his paintings any less vibrant and impressive. After all main task Monet, like his friends art school, was to convey an impression, impressione.
The artist wanted to show how indistinguishable the line between light and shadow is, how the rays of the sun can refract and bizarrely change the shape of stone arches, buttresses and towers that cannot be changed. Indeed: many people find it difficult to understand how the same color can take on different shades under different lighting conditions. Using the example of the works “Rouen Cathedral”, Claude Monet questions the concept of color, thereby challenging his time.
Cathedral on a sunny day
The paintings where the cathedral is bright were painted during the day. Depending on the sun and mood, Monet puts strokes of yellow, bluish, ultramarine “reflexes” on the walls of the cathedral. If you look carefully, the buildings in the “sunny” paintings consist of solid spots of light different colors and shades. Monet's skill lies in the fact that he was able to convey form without using outlines or a sufficient amount of shadow. The artist simply sketched a lot of sun rays - and the beautiful paintings of the “Rouen Cathedral” series turned out. Claude Monet painted vividly, energetically, and his emotions are conveyed to the audience.
Monet's hazy paintings
Studying Claude Monet's series dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral, you can see that the artist really liked the magical time of day called twilight. The artist depicted the Rouen Cathedral as mysterious, lost in the morning fog. This light, translucent haze gives the building a romantic feel. Sometimes the haze envelops the cathedral so much that all the shades become pastel, barely distinguishable. However, the lack of contrast here is on purpose. Violet, blue, lilac and warm yellow shades smoothly shimmer, creating a feeling of soft radiance... On morning pictures The cathedral looks like a truly holy place.
Cloudy weather
The Cathedral before the Rain, painted by Claude Monet, is a special work of art. There are almost no warm shades in this picture: only cold gray and bluish ones. Here and there brown passages of arches are visible. It seems as if the cathedral was not built of stone, but woven from hundreds that could rain at any moment. Monet's brushstrokes resemble heavy drops that are about to fall from the sky. Hanging over the building seems very heavy, just like the lines architectural elements cathedral
Evening Cathedral
"Rouen Cathedral" by Monet - the clearest example impressionism. In paintings painted in the afternoon, towards evening, there is much more sadness than in others. Monet uses reddish and copper tones to depict evening studies of the cathedral. Sometimes there are shades of only one color: red, blue or brown, ocher.
Harmony in brown tones - a gloomy image of the cathedral “against the light”. All details of the structure are in shadow and partial shade, and a light yellow bright sky stands out in the background. The contrasts of the picture and the simultaneous combination of all shades are delightful.
Era, style, direction - impressionism
The cathedral in Rouen, the ancient capital of the Roman province in northern Gaul, built on the very spot where we see it now, is the first religious Christian building. Its construction was resumed at the beginning of the second millennium AD, but after a fire in 1200 the cathedral required thirty years of reconstruction, as a result of which it was restored in the “flaming” Gothic style. Main facade was rebuilt over several centuries. For four hundred years the building was rebuilt and strengthened, the stylistic unity was broken, nevertheless the cathedral looked very picturesque, Monet was simply fascinated by it.
Monet's largest cycle of works is dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral, or more precisely, to its western facade, decorated with sculpture reflecting the development trends of French Gothic; The façade is flanked by two large towers - the Saint-Roman Tower to the north and the Butter Tower to the south. The name of the latter is due to the fact that funds received from grateful citizens who were allowed to eat butter during Lent were invested in its construction.
Monet arrived in Rouen, a city located in northern France, on February 5, 1892, and rented a room at the Angleterre Hotel on Avenue Boieldieu. He painted his first view of the cathedral's façade from a hotel window. Then the artist went to Paris for some time. Upon his return, he obtained permission to work, sitting in the window of the Fernand Levy fashion store, overlooking cathedral square.
The series dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral consists of fifty paintings executed in the same format. This cycle occupies an important place in Monet’s work; the artist worked on it systematically, with special care, as never before. Every half hour he tried to capture the fleeting states of the light-air environment and convey subtle halftones of color. On April 3, Monet wrote to Alice Hoschede: “Every day I discover something new, something I have not seen before.” The store owner, who noticed that female visitors were reacting strangely to the artist’s presence, asked him to henceforth hide behind a screen and limit his activities to the morning hours. On February 15 of the following year, Monet returned to Rouen, staying at the same hotel and staying there until March 15. He deliberately chose the same period as last year, wanting to work under the same lighting, but nevertheless was forced to slightly change the angle of view, moving to the building of the Eduard Moki plant on Bolshoi Most Street. The new viewing location was located in close proximity to the hotel, from the windows of which Monet first captured the view of the cathedral. The rooms reserved for workshops were located on the second floor, from their windows overlooking the cathedral square, Monet had a magnificent view of the cathedral. The artist chose high point vision, allowing him to maximally cover an object, from which he could not move a great distance. Majestic view The facade, occupying the entire space of the canvas, made a stunning impression on the viewer with its power.
Monet immortalized the appearance of the cathedral, which became a symbol of France, without giving special significance his architectural features, being interested, first of all, in color reflexes on stone when different angles refraction of sunlight. The building completely dissolves in the light-air environment characteristic of a certain time of day: at dawn it is shrouded in moist air vapor, at sunset it is illuminated by warm pink rays, the fluctuations of the bright midday light give it power. In windy weather, the surface of the stone appears pockmarked, and in sunny days- dark gray.
While working on the series, the artist was in an anxious, confused state of mind; Dissatisfied with himself, he destroyed many of the paintings in this cycle. In the same letter to Alice Osheda, he wrote: “At night I was overcome by nightmares, the cathedral seemed to collapse on me, knocking me off my feet. It was sometimes blue, sometimes red, sometimes yellow.”
In the series dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral, the main structural element is the light that ignites the colors and reflects off the stone surface, imitating the shape of objects and giving depth to the three-dimensional image. The artist no longer uses neutral tones to convey shadows; there are no clearly defined areas on the canvas with a predominance of dark or light. The shadows are written bright colors. Atmospheric effects are transferred to the canvas, it seems that time has frozen for a moment. Light seems to reveal the immaterial nature of objects, nature finds its harmony in light and eternal movement: every moment its appearance is transformed.
Monet began to work early in the morning, without waiting for seven o'clock, with backlight, as the sun rose behind the cathedral, and its rays fell on the building from behind, barely highlighting the contours of the towers and spiers. At noon, when the sun was at its zenith, the entire building was illuminated with dazzling light. sunlight, only the portals obscured by the facade remained in the shadows. In the afternoon, towards evening, the shadows of nearby houses painted the façade in various shades blue. This is how Georges Clemenceau described his impressions of the series of “cathedrals”: art critic and a close friend of Monet, who often visited his house in Giverny and a true admirer of his talent: “At first the gray series is a huge gray mass, which gradually brightens more and more; then a white series, imperceptibly moving from a faint flicker to an ever-increasing play of light, culminating in the flashes of a rainbow series; and onwards blue series, where the light softens again into the blue, melting like a bright heavenly vision.” For the sake of emancipation visual perception Monet even sacrificed perspective - the immutable principle of European fine arts starting from the 15th century. His painting style shows the influence of Japanese prints, which became widespread in France in the 1860s.
Repeating the motif dozens of times, transforming in the rays of light at different times of the day, Monet changed the generally accepted idea of the painting as a complete, self-sufficient work. The same Clemenceau wrote: “The artist consciously creates 20 paintings for one motif, as if wanting to convince us that it is possible and even necessary to create dozens, hundreds and even thousands of works, reflecting every moment of life, every heartbeat. The naked eye can see that the appearance of the cathedral is constantly transformed in the rays of light. Even the attentive eye of an outside observer is able to catch these changes and notice subtle fluctuations. What can we say about the painter, whose eye is much more perfect. Monet, being an artist ahead of his time, teaches us to perceive visual images and see the world more subtly."
The series of “cathedrals” was completed on April 14, 1893; at the final stage, Monet worked in his home studio. On May 10, 1895, twenty paintings from this cycle were exhibited at the Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris and were a huge success.
- (Monet) (1840 1926), French painter. Representative of impressionism. Subtle in color, landscapes filled with light and air; in the 1890s sought to capture the fleeting states of the light-air environment at different times of the day (the “Haystacks” series... Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (monet) Claude Oscar (1840, Paris – 1926, Giverny, France), French artist, representative of impressionism. Born into a grocer's family. When Monet was six years old, his family moved to Le Havre, where the future artist met E.... ... Art Encyclopedia
MONET, CLAUDE OSCAR (Monet, Claude Oscar) (1840 1926), French artist, one of the founders of impressionism. Born on November 14, 1840 in Paris in the family of a grocer. Five years later his family moved to Le Havre. Around 1856 under the leadership of Louis Eugene... ... Collier's Encyclopedia
- (Monet) (1840 1926), French painter. One of the main creators of the impressionist method. He studied with E. Boudin, attended the Suisse Academy (185 60) and the workshop of C. Gleyre (1862 63) in Paris. He was influenced by C. Corot, G. Courbet, E. Manet.... ... Art Encyclopedia
Monet Claude Oscar (14.2.1840, Paris, 6.12.1926, Giverny, Normandy), French landscape painter, one of the founders of impressionism. He studied with E. Boudin in Le Havre (1858-59), at the Suisse Academy (1859-60) and in the workshop of C. Gleyre (1862-63) in... ...
- (1840 1926) French painter. Representative of impressionism. Subtle in color, landscapes filled with light and air; in the 1890s sought to capture the fleeting states of the light-air environment at different times of the day (Haystacks series, 1890 91 ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Monet- Claude (Monet, Claude) 1840, Paris 1928, Giverny. French painter, founder of impressionism. Monet's artistic talent manifested itself early: while still studying at college in Le Havre, he became famous for his caricatures. In 1858 he met with... ... European art: Painting. Sculpture. Graphics: Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Edouard Manet. Claude Monet Oscar Claude Monet ... Wikipedia
- (Monet) Claude Oscar (14.2.1840, Paris, 6.12.1926, Giverny, Normandy), French landscape painter, one of the founders of Impressionism. He studied with E. Boudin in Le Havre (1858-59), at the Suisse Academy (1859-60) and in the workshop of C. Gleyre (1862-63) ... Big Soviet encyclopedia
Books
- Claude Monet Late creativity, Yu. Astakhov. The book is dedicated to late creativity French painter, founder of impressionism, Claude Mo ie. Working in the open air, he, like other impressionists, saw the transformation of nature,...
- Claude Monet. A collection of poster paintings with reproductions of world masterpieces of painting. This publication is dedicated to the work of the famous French impressionist artist, who revolutionized the idea of art - Oscar Claude Monet. He made a real revolution in the world...
Rouen Cathedral by Claude Monet
Era, style, direction - impressionism
The cathedral in Rouen, the ancient capital of the Roman province in northern Gaul, built on the very spot where we see it now, is the first religious Christian building. Its construction was resumed at the beginning of the second millennium AD, but after a fire in 1200 the cathedral required thirty years of reconstruction, as a result of which it was restored in the “flaming” Gothic style. The main facade was rebuilt over several centuries. For four hundred years the building was rebuilt and strengthened, the stylistic unity was broken, nevertheless the cathedral looked very picturesque, Monet was simply fascinated by it.
Monet's largest cycle of works is dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral, or more precisely, to its western facade, decorated with sculpture reflecting the development trends of French Gothic; The façade is flanked by two large towers - the Saint-Roman Tower to the north and the Butter Tower to the south. The name of the latter is due to the fact that funds received from grateful citizens who were allowed to eat butter during Lent were invested in its construction.
Monet arrived in Rouen, a city located in northern France, on February 5, 1892, and rented a room at the Angleterre Hotel on Avenue Boieldieu. He painted his first view of the cathedral's façade from a hotel window. Then the artist went to Paris for some time. Upon his return, he obtained permission to work, sitting in the window of the Fernand Levy fashion store, overlooking the cathedral square.
The series dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral consists of fifty paintings executed in the same format. This cycle occupies an important place in Monet’s work; the artist worked on it systematically, with special care, as never before. Every half hour he tried to capture the fleeting states of the light-air environment and convey subtle halftones of color. On April 3, Monet wrote to Alice Hoschede: “Every day I discover something new, something I have not seen before.” The store owner, who noticed that female visitors were reacting strangely to the artist’s presence, asked him to henceforth hide behind a screen and limit his activities to the morning hours. On February 15 of the following year, Monet returned to Rouen, staying at the same hotel and staying there until March 15. He deliberately chose the same period as last year, wanting to work under the same lighting, but nevertheless was forced to slightly change the angle of view, moving to the building of the Eduard Moki plant on Bolshoi Most Street. The new viewing location was located in close proximity to the hotel, from the windows of which Monet first captured the view of the cathedral. The rooms reserved for workshops were located on the second floor, from their windows overlooking the cathedral square, Monet had a magnificent view of the cathedral. The artist chose a high point of view, allowing him to capture the object as much as possible, from which he could not move a great distance. The majestic appearance of the facade, occupying the entire space of the canvas, made a stunning impression on the viewer with its power.
Monet immortalized the appearance of the cathedral, which became a symbol of France, without attaching much importance to its architectural features, being interested, first of all, in the color reflections on the stone at different angles of refraction of the sun's rays. The building completely dissolves in the light-air environment characteristic of a certain time of day: at dawn it is shrouded in moist air vapor, at sunset it is illuminated by warm pink rays, the fluctuations of the bright midday light give it power. In windy weather, the surface of the stone appears pockmarked, and on sunny days it appears dark gray.
While working on the series, the artist was in an anxious, confused state of mind; Dissatisfied with himself, he destroyed many of the paintings in this cycle. In the same letter to Alice Osheda, he wrote: “At night I was overcome by nightmares, the cathedral seemed to collapse on me, knocking me off my feet. It was sometimes blue, sometimes red, sometimes yellow.”
In the Rouen Cathedral series, the main structural element is light, which ignites the colors and reflects off the stone surface, imitating the shape of objects and giving depth to the three-dimensional image. The artist no longer uses neutral tones to convey shadows; there are no clearly defined areas on the canvas with a predominance of dark or light. The shadows are painted in bright colors. Atmospheric effects are transferred to the canvas, it seems that time has frozen for a moment. Light seems to reveal the immaterial nature of objects, nature finds its harmony in light and eternal movement: every moment its appearance is transformed.
Monet began to work early in the morning, without waiting for seven o'clock, with backlight, as the sun rose behind the cathedral, and its rays fell on the building from behind, barely highlighting the contours of the towers and spiers. At noon, when the sun was at its zenith, the entire building was illuminated by dazzling sunlight, leaving only the portals obscured by the façade in the shadows. In the afternoon, towards evening, the shadows of nearby houses painted the facade in various shades of blue. This is how Georges Clemenceau, an art critic and close friend of Monet, who often visited his house in Giverny and a true admirer of his talent, described his impressions of the series of “cathedrals”: “At first, the gray series is a huge gray mass, which gradually brightens more and more; then a white series, imperceptibly moving from a faint flicker to an ever-increasing play of light, culminating in the flashes of a rainbow series; and then the blue series, where the light again softens into blue, melting like a bright heavenly vision.” For the sake of liberating visual perception, Monet even sacrificed perspective - an immutable principle of European fine art since the 15th century. His painting style shows the influence of Japanese prints, which became widespread in France in the 1860s.
Repeating the motif dozens of times, transforming in the rays of light at different times of the day, Monet changed the generally accepted idea of the painting as a complete, self-sufficient work. The same Clemenceau wrote: “The artist consciously creates 20 paintings for one motif, as if wanting to convince us that it is possible and even necessary to create dozens, hundreds and even thousands of works, reflecting every moment of life, every heartbeat. The naked eye can see that the appearance of the cathedral is constantly transformed in the rays of light. Even the attentive eye of an outside observer is able to catch these changes and notice subtle fluctuations. What can we say about the painter, whose eye is much more perfect. Monet, being an artist ahead of his time, teaches us to perceive visual images and see the world more subtly."
The series of “cathedrals” was completed on April 14, 1893; at the final stage, Monet worked in his home studio. On May 10, 1895, twenty paintings from this cycle were exhibited at the Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris and were a huge success.
References
To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://artclassic.edu.ru/