Monet Essay, Research Paper

On a Sunday morning I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I saw many amazing, interesting and beautiful paintings and sculptures. As I was walking around, I spotted a painting by Claude Oscar Monet. This painting was called “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse,” which is also known as the “Garden at Sainte-Adresse.” Since I was so interested in this painting scenery, I approached someone who worked there and asked questions about it.

Claude Monet was the best-known painter of the French Impressionist Era. He was particularly remembered for his water garden painting. The “Terrace at Sainte- Adresse” was painted in the summer of 1867 in the family house. He painted this view from one of the upstairs rooms. This painting made me think of happiness and serenity. The first thing that “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse” spotted my eye was Jeanne Marguerite Lecadre’s white dress. Her white dress looks luminous among the red geraniums looking out toward the Atlantic Ocean. Jeanne Marguerite Lecadre is in conversation with a young man wearing a black hat and a black suit.

The man seated is Monet’s father, seen in three quarter views as the viewer, seeming as it was to look over his shoulder. I’ve noticed that there is abundance of flowers on the terrace that Monet’s love of flowers seems to be reminding himself of the connection between pictures and making the painting almost look realistic. The painting reflects in its articulation of the sea, sky, the flowerbeds, his family members and the flags against the glittering backdrop of the sea. The painting appears composed and almost looking realistic and dreamy. His Aunt Sophie Lecadre, sitting right next to his father Adolphe Monet, is sitting holding her white umbrella. She seems like she is represented with respect as she over looks the Atlantic Ocean.

The “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse” where Monet enjoys the breezy scene in front of him has a nice sunny day where someone can see lots of shadows. In front of him as a picture, framed by the two flagpoles that carve the view into a rectangle. The two French flags blowing in the wind dominated the picture and separated the three horizontal bands of the painting, the terrace, the sea, and the clear sky with very little cotton clouds that provided the vertical balance. The design itself is totally peculiar, with the faces of the people turned away from the viewer.

Many boats and ships can be seen in the background. When Monet painted a sea populated with boats, he was working in a well-established marine tradition. By this time he would have known Courbet’s marines, and those whistlers too, in which the empty sea, whether dominated by a single wave or representing as a cool band. Some of the boats have smoke coming out and are shown as simple, irresistible images of infinity. This view of the sea makes the observer feel peaceful and tranquil. The “Terrace at Sainte- Adresse” became a model for a host of other subjects opening up the possibility of composition that was above all else parallel, frontal, and embracing.

These portrait shapes on the horizon are sharply geometric and furnishing to the oriental pastel tone of the painting. While Monet’s treatment of the sky is flat, the sea show signs of his fascination with its every changing color and a fascination that emerges strongly about his family. Monet’s idea for this painting was to capture reality and analyze the ever-changing nature of light and color. The freedom of his brushwork and the paint that he used which is oil on canvas was audacious use of color in his work was to record his surroundings faithfully from Paris. Monet’s work was very detailed and dreamy. The beauty of “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse” was based on the gardens and the ocean front view that he created at Giverny in northeastern France.

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