Seven years after the Paris Commune, which was the Fourth French Revolution that lasted two months, the French government had finally decided it was time to celebrate their resurgence. They felt like they were rebuilt and moving forward and out of the previous years of destruction. In 1878, June 30th was the date chosen to hold the festival celebrating France getting on its feet again. Two Impressionist artists from the time, Claude Monet and Edouard Manet, depicted this day of celebration in their paintings, The Rue Montorgueil and The Rue Mosnier with Flags, respectively. These artists’ approaches to the task of depicting this day offer many differences as well as similarities in their paintings.
Monet’s The Rue Montorgueil is a painting that is full of energy. His brushstrokes are very present in the work and offer movement and life to the subject matter. The scene is portrayed from an aerial view of the end of a street, looking down the road. Flags hang from every window, blowing in the breeze and the ground is almost impossible to see due to the crowds in the street. Monet’s style is avant-garde in regards to how simplified Impressionism allows him to be. It looks like he could have painted it quickly, and individuals in the street are reduced to nearly lines and blobs of dark paint. The action left behind in the viewable brushstrokes of Monet’s hand adds to the action of the content. It is painted using a brighter color palette, and appears to be a sunny day that is represented. This lightens up the subject matter as well, and makes it more obviously a festival and that the crowds of people are celebrating. There is still a dark undertone that is indirectly addressed, since the celebration is for the ending of the suffering that France had experienced in the past years. It is a festival marking the end of the consequences of the war and the revival of France.
Monet’s The Rue Montorgueil is a painting that is full of energy. His brushstrokes are very present in the work and offer movement and life to the subject matter. The scene is portrayed from an aerial view of the end of a street, looking down the road. Flags hang from every window, blowing in the breeze and the ground is almost impossible to see due to the crowds in the street. Monet’s style is avant-garde in regards to how simplified Impressionism allows him to be. It looks like he could have painted it quickly, and individuals in the street are reduced to nearly lines and blobs of dark paint. The action left behind in the viewable brushstrokes of Monet’s hand adds to the action of the content. It is painted using a brighter color palette, and appears to be a sunny day that is represented. This lightens up the subject matter as well, and makes it more obviously a festival and that the crowds of people are celebrating. There is still a dark undertone that is indirectly addressed, since the celebration is for the ending of the suffering that France had experienced in the past years. It is a festival marking the end of the consequences of the war and the revival of France.
Manet’s painting, The Rue Mosnier with Flags, is similar in the way that it is somewhat simplified, such as with the details at the end of the street which appear as more ambiguous blobs of paint. His brushstrokes, much like Monet’s, are very visible and add a sense of motion to the content. However, Manet, I believe, has more bold colors and also uses juxtapositions of bright and dark colors. This is present in the carriage on the street against the brightly sunlit cobblestones, and even the veteran with a dark coat and slight black outline. Manet also moves the perspective of his composition closer to the ground of the street that he depicts. It is zoomed in for a more personal feel. We know that both of these artists’ paintings are avant-garde in terms of artistic characteristics, but Manet covers the grounds of political radicalism as well with his inclusion of the crippled veteran in the foreground. Perhaps he is sending a message to all of France, suggesting that they not forget what it cost for them to have their Third Republic. Manet fought in the war, and experienced the turmoil himself, so it could be his way of paying tribute to all others who were there.
Monet lived to be an old man who painted the bright colors of the flowers in his garden. I think his brushwork gradually got even looser over time but he usually preferred bright colors so his style generally stayed pretty constant. His subjects also were usually landscapes or things outdoors. I see a bigger change in Manet's style. His earlier works flattened the picture plane and the brushstrokes and paint depth changes were more evident than in academy approved work of the time. In his painting of the day of June 30 1878 his brushwork has loosened up quite a bit and there is quite a bit of depth though his subject matter still leans toward the realist/political. He seems to be copying the style of Monet more than Monet ever copied him.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the brushstrokes of Monet’s painting does give the painting more energy. I also like that he used a lighter color palette then Manet did. I also really like that they both painted the same festival but I like that they painted different point of views of the festival.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that while Monet remained fairly dedicated to his one style and changed the subject matter to be whatever he saw, Manet changed the style of each painting to fit with whatever subject or statement he wanted to describe. We like to associate them together, but sometimes it can even seem that they are opposites.
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