Claude Monet: Vol 2

Illustrations

The Boat, 1887. Oil on canvas, 146 x 133 cm.

Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.

His Life – The Pinnacle

and the Crises

Like many artists of his day and earlier times, Monet repeatedly sojourned and worked on the coast of Normandy, where Delacroix and Courbet had once painted many marine scenes. Between 1883 and 1886 Monet often visited Étretat and produced many of his seascapes. Their recurrent motif is a cliff jutting out far into the sea, as in Cliffs at Étretat (1886, Pushkin Museum, Moscow), which was done from the d’Amont rock near the Payen house.

The coastal town Étretat inspired several of Monet’s seascapes and landscapes. Monet was not the only painter at the time to travel to the north of France in search of inspiration for his works. Both Delacroix and Courbet had already painted in Étretat, and Monet owned a watercolour by Delacroix.

Among them, Courbet, Pissaro, Manet, and Renoir also travelled to the Normandy coast. Monet frequently met with the writer and fellow Étretat resident Maupassant, who set most of his short stories in his hometown. The close relationship between art and literature and the two-sided influence between the disciplines during the 19th century is clear.

In his later works, created on the north-western French coast, Monet captured spectacular views of the sea and the beach life in all of its rawness.

Among the steep cliffs on the various coastal areas, he directed his attention on three natural arches, Porte d’Aval, Manneporte, and Porte d’Amont, and the seven-metre needle.

Because of the great interest, numerous artists on the Normandy coast consider the Manneporte as one of the most-often-portrayed rock formations.

Monet alone painted six images of the Manneporte, which can be seen as an important step towards his series. Of which The Manneporte near Étretat (vol. 1, p. 237) and The Manneporte (Étretat) (vol. 1, p. 238) are integral.

His hometown Le Havre, a place he held deeply in his heart, would again be close to him in 1868 when he settled nearby in Étretat with his future wife Camille Concieux and their son Jean, doing so again in 1883, 1885, and 1886.

The power of the blue-green, partially violet water that broke into waves along the coast is seen in his paintings. He captured the raw weather, with its sudden changes from sunny to cloudy, and portrayed the lives of the local fishermen and their simple boats, moored on the pebble beach, as in Three Fishing Boats (vol. 1, p. 199) Monet often took many canvasses to the beach, and during the course of the day, alternated between previously started paintings, with the purpose of capturing the original lighting. At the end, Monet edited his paintings in his workshop. Altogether, Monet completed over fifty works in Étretat.

Olive Trees in the Moreno Garden, 1884.

Oil on canvas, 65.4 x 81.2 cm. Private collection.

Antibes Seen from La Salis, 1888.

Oil on canvas, 73.3 x 92 cm.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo (Ohio).

In December 1883 he set out with Renoir for the Riviera. In 1884, after Bordighera and Menton, he returned to Étretat, where he also spent several months during the following summer.

The year 1886 was memorable for trips to Holland and Brittany; from January to April 1888 he lived on the Mediterranean coast at Antibes, before moving on to London and thence back to Étretat. These journeys were undoubtedly efforts to find new sources for his work, new and inspiring motifs.

Nevertheless, in all his wanderings, Monet remained resolutely faithful to the central principle of his art, trying to penetrate deep into Nature, to apprehend her secrets and convey them through vivid and direct perception.

After his arrival in Bordighera and exposure to the exotic nature of the south, he wrote to his second wife Alice: My work is progressing, but I am experiencing difficulty; these palm-trees are a torment to me, and apart from that it is very hard to pick a motif and get it down on the canvas – there are such thickets all around.

Monet’s fascination with the Mediterranean landscape reached its peak during the 1880s. During this time, he continually relocated from place to place, in search of new sources of inspiration.

After working in the French Riviera, Monet made a second trip to the south of France in 1884, in order to dedicate himself to the beauty of the Italian Riviera, where he completed The Castle at Dolceacqua (1884, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris).

It portrays the small town of Dolceacqua in Liguria on the Italian Riviera with the ruins of the Doria Castle and a 14th-century bridge running across the riverbed of the Nervia.

Dolceacqua was the seat of power of the Doria family and home to Admiral Andrea Doria. The Doria family maintained dominion of the Republic of Genoa up until the 16th or 17th century.

The Dolceacqua Bridge (vol. 1, p. 222) and The Castle at Dolceacqua, done in a matter of hours, belong to a notable series of paintings in which Monet focused on this gem in the Italian province. In both of the paintings, Monet painted the arched bridge in the middle of the painting, flanked by the two riverbeds of the Nervia.

Cap d’Antibes, Mistral, 1888.

Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Antibes Seen from the Plateau Notre-Dame, 1888.

Oil on canvas, 65.7 x 81.3 cm. Juliana Cheney

Edwards Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Alps Seen from Cap d’Antibes, 1888.

Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm. Private collection.

Antibes, Afternoon Effect, 1888. Oil on canvas, 66 x 82.5 cm.

Gift of Samuel Dacre Bush, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

On the right side of The Castle at Dolceacqua, the castle towers above the small city. The painting captures only the castle, as if Monet had painted it from a high angle. For The Dolceacqua Bridge, the perspective is so low that Monet could have been standing directly in the riverbed.

On the far-right margin of the painting, the exterior wall of a house is recognisable, and on the opposite end of the bridge, a tower protrudes over the building. The paintings differ not only in the motifs and perspective, but also slightly in colouring: darkly-nuanced colours in the former, while light brown and green tones are predominant in the latter.

The painting Dolceacqua (vol. 1, p. 221) portrays the old castle once again. Destroyed by the French and Spanish during the 18th century, the castle contributes to the charm of the small town and the medieval bridge.

The painter once described the small town near Ventimiglia as the ‘Jewel of Lightness’. He was enthralled with the raw beauty of the Italian hinterland, the luminous power of the sun, and the wild nature.

The fascinating originality of the village, which inspired Monet’s series, has not been displaced even to this day.

The observer can recognise the distinct atmosphere of the town and is taken in by Monet’s ability and creativity, and it succeeds in conveying the intrinsic form of lightness and warmth in the motifs.

However, during his trip to Italy, Monet not only worked in this small town, but also in the surrounding areas. In his impressive seascapes, he captured the expansive skies and views of the Alps.

Additionally, he painted views of the city of Ventimiglia and the Nervia Valley, whose atmospheric beauty reveals itself in Monet’s works.

The unparalleled vegetation, the exceptional light that captured the most vibrant colours, and the not-so-distant Mediterranean Sea provide an environment in which the artist found innumerable sources of inspiration.

The painting The Valley of the Nervia (vol. 1, p. 223) depicts a barren landscape, over which the imposing mountain peaks of the Alps hover.

Gardener’s House at Antibes, 1888. Oil on canvas, 66.3 x 93 cm.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.

The Esterel Mountains, 1888.

Oil on canvas, 65 x 92. The Courtauld Gallery, London.

The Nervia is adumbrated in the lower left corner, and blends with the blue tones of the surroundings.

Monet painted his works in typical Impressionist style, but under the influence of his own artistic feelings and with the assistance of a brilliant colour palette, which, in a special manner, echoes the Italian Riviera.

Following the end of his time in Italy, Monet again returned to places of his earlier productive periods, as well as new cities, such as London or Rouen, where he completed two of his most famous series.

He again travelled to Italy during the first decade of the 20th century. The purpose of the trip was to visit the lagoon city Venice, where Monet completed another powerful series.

Later Monet visited Antibes on the recommendation of the art dealer Durand-Ruel. In Antibes, Monet spent three months during the winter of 1888, during which time he completed a total of forty paintings.

The city of Monet’s inspiration would later be visited by other artists such as Picasso and Chagall. Fascinated by the light’s play on colours, by the vegetation found on the Mediterranean landscape, and by the impressive coast, every visitor managed to create masterpieces.

The artistic road found there today, which includes the various locations where these great artists worked, renders a glimpse into the landscape which they captured on canvas in various ways.

The painting Cap d’Antibes, Mistral portrays Antibes from afar. A few trees are scattered in the foreground, and in the background is the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea and the vastness of the clear sky, bordered by the sublime majesty of the Alps. The beauty found in nature is not simply reflected in Monet’s works, but rather is intensified.

The works completed in Antibes portray a range of motifs, which Monet continually repainted at different times of day, capturing a wide array of colourful lighting. Amongst the motifs is the old fort, again, encircled by the blue of the water and by the Alps, or the sparse trees scattered along the coast, as seen in Beach in Juan-les-Pins.

The play of light and shadow are also areas of focus in his works. Monet mostly painted at the exact times of day at which light is equally both intense and contradictory: sunrise, sunset, and noon influenced his works. In this manner, Monet wanted