"Monet: The Early Years" at San Francisco Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum

The forever popular French impressionist painter Claude Monet made his somewhat unusual appearance in San Francisco Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum, in an exhibition titled Monet: The Early Years (February 25, 2017 through May 29, 2017), featuring his mostly engaging early paintings, some of them were already in the realm of later famed impressionism.

The first piece or pieces to greet the audience amazed us by the unusual shape of the wok(s). The ensemble had two framed pieces of different sizes, cut from the same and much larger painting. The square one on the right side, centering on two seated people at a picnic, was collected by Musée d'Orsay in Paris, titled 'Luncheon on the Grass, Central Panel' (1865–66), while the slender and tall panel on the left side, featuring back view of three people at the perimeter of the picnic, hailed from a private collection. What a fascinating family reunion. I also wondered where the "right" panel might be.



The rest of the exhibition was organized in chronological order, well suited to demonstrate the development of Monet as an artist. Here, I will largely follow this arrangement, with some re-grouping according to subject matters.

In the first room, we saw some landscapes, and one can see their affinity to the works by early French greats such as Corot, and Courbet. These landscape were much weightier and earthier than his more celebrated later pieces.


The Pointe de La Hève at Low Tide, 1865. Oil on canvas, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas



Next were some winter scenes, a genre quite different from typical impressionism works closely associated with often colorful domains under joyous and sunshine. However, even in winter, the shifting lights were clearly a main contributing factor to the sense of drama, though somewhat subdued.


A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur (1865), Musée d’Orsay




The Magpie (1869), Musée d’Orsay

There were some paintings depicting scenes in cities, painted while Monet visited the Netherlands and UK, and those works had similar characteristics of his early landscapes.



But, some of the brushstrokes Monet employed had become noticeably looser and more fluid.


Hyde Park, 1871, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence




The Pont Neuf in Paris (1871), Dallas Museum of Art

With water, Monet had his most solid footing, and the results were dynamic and engrossing. Immersed in a room full of such paintings, one felt the strong need to hold breath, in case the splashing water entered one's lungs.




The Green Wave. (1886) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York





One of my favorite pieces in this show was the "Fishing Boat" below, which was rich in texture and subtle in tonal variances, and almost reached the state of abstract, which caused its rejection by an exhibiting salon, yet a virtue in the later era.


Fishing Boats

Monet's water scenes with people was always very interesting, especially the way he portrayed the slight melancholy, and the endlessly shifting patterns of water. His ability to depict still or slightly rippled water bodies was astounding, despite the fact that such way of painting had inevitably lost its novelty.




On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt (1868)




On the Beach in Trouville



Monet didn't frequently paint people as pure portraits — most of his people were immersed in outdoor or indoor settings, and became part of the fabrics — a few such pure portraits from his early period were included in the show, and I was very taken in by a portrait of Camille Monet, who stood in snow, in her bright red shawl, turned her upper torso slightly, and timidly or inquisitively peered into the closed French door. An intriguing scene, worthy of Chekhov or Ibsen.


The Red Kerchief: Portrait of Camille Monet (ca. 1868-1873), Cleveland Museum of Art 


The Cradle—Camille with the Artist’s Son Jean (1867, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC)


Jean Monet Sleeping (1867–1868, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen)



There were also some still life paintings in the exhibit, probably as answers to friendly challenges lobbed from some accomplished painters. Or rainy day consolations for the sun-obsessed Monet.




Still Life with Melon (1872, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon)


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My Favorite Paintings at Art Institute of Chicago

One of the largest art museums in the US, the Art Institute of Chicago dazzled visitors with its vast arrays of treasures.

My favorite was Saint Martin and the Beggar by El Greco, dating back to the beginning of the 17th century. The first impression of the painting was the freshness and cleanness — the rain-washed blue sky, the gleaming white pelt of the horse, the polished face, drape and armor of the well-groomed saint, and even the taut and well-scrubbed skin of the beggar — all these gave the painting an other-worldly purity, which was also heightened by the contrast to small muddy patches, such as the brown hill under their feet, and the shadowy distant hills and forest, seen only from underneath the stallion's belly. The viewpoint was very low, thus both figures, particularly that the mounted saint, hovered large almost like a super human, yet his humble and sweet face endeared him to the viewer and managed to bring  him back towards viewers. The narrow vertical format of the painting, which was almost filled completely with these two persons and the horse, was also noteworthy and memorable.


El Greco [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Saint Martin and the Beggar, 1597/1600, El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541-1614)

The Art Institute was rightful to be proud of its Impressionism collections. One of the best of those was Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare (1877) by French master Claude Monet. This painting, a bit unusual from others, was its industrial subjects and indoor setting. The steam permeated train station was awash in chilly blue light, and almost everything was off-focus due to the simmer of the heated air. Monet perfectly captured the chaos, excitement, and anxiety with the advent of modern technology and cold machinery.


Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877, Claude Monet (1840-1926) 
Claude Monet [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


My Favorite Museum Collection Series
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List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

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My Favorite Paintings at Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris

When I visited Paris for the first time in 2000, Musée de l'Orangerie was closed for renovation, therefore I missed the chance to see the large assemble of Claude Monet's Les Nymphéas (Water Lilies).  Eight years later, when I returned, I was delighted to bask in the glory in those two oval-shaped rooms, especially built to showcase this "series" Musée de l'Orangerie collected.

According to Wikipedia, "Water Lilies (or Nymphéas) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life. Many of the works were painted while Monet suffered from cataracts."

"The paintings are on display at museums all over the world, including the Musée Marmottan Monet and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, etc. During the 1920s, the state of France built a pair of oval rooms at the Musée de l'Orangerie as a permanent home for eight water lily murals by Monet. The exhibit opened to the public on 16 May 1927, a few months after Monet's death. Sixty water lily paintings from around the world were assembled for a special exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie in 1999."

To see those glorious canvases in those two large oval rooms were an incredible experience - one felt the light danced around the room, the scent permeated in the air, the dark water absorbed all the toils and worries in the world, and gave back calm and comfort.

The mastery of Monet was astonishing - he didn't just created an atmosphere or brandishing his virtuosity - he created a world breathed and signed, full of life.  His brushstrokes were broad and sure, though highly suggestive, with the aid of viewers' eyes, all the details were present and palpable.  I felt that I was indeed immersed in the whispering pond.








Les Nymphéas, Claude Monet, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris

There were many other works collected by the museum, besides the Les Nymphéas.  I particularly loved a small piece by Maurice Utrillo, La Maison de Berlioz, which depicted a lone and lonely white-washed house, with deceptively plain surface which was actually full of textural details, amidst sparsely leaved young trees.  Very simple yet enchantingly if one could bear the intense melancholic undertone.


La Maison de Berlioz, 1824, Maurice Utrillo

My Favorite Museum Collection Series

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List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited