Analysis of an artwork piece in a museum

¶ … Artwork Piece at a Museum

One of the most impressive pieces showed in the Denver Art Museum is a painting by Claude Monet entitled "Le Bassin des Nympheas," made in 1904. "Among the museum's regular holdings are John DeAndrea's sexy, soothing, life-size polyvinyl painting "Linda" (1983), Claude Monet's dreamy flowerscape "Le Bassin des Nympheas" (1904), and Charles Deas' red-cowboy-on-horseback "Long Jakes, The Rocky Mountain Man "(1844)." This inclusion among the top three most requested pieces of the museum testifies to its grace and technical beauty, things that make it such a memorable painting.

Monet was part of a group of painters who rejected the "approved" way of painting of the day in their search for something else. "The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting " en plein air." They used short, "broken" brush strokes of pure and unmixed colour, not smoothly blended as was the custom at the time. Painting realistic scenes of modern life, they emphasized vivid overall effects rather than details."

Monet was always more interested in the capture of light and atmosphere and how these afected the perception of the objects around. His choice of colours and brushwork emphasize this. "Monet soon began to concern himself with his lifelong objective: portraying the variations of light and atmosphere brought on by changes of hour and season. Rather than copy in the Louvre, the traditional practice of young artists, Monet learned from his friends, from the landscape itself, and from the works of his older contemporaries Manet, Corot, and Courbet. Monet's representation of light was based on his knowledge of the laws of optics as well as his own observations of his subjects. He often showed natural color by breaking it down into its different components as a prism does. Eliminating black and gray from his palette, Monet rejected entirely the academic approach to landscape.."

This painting might not be one of the most known of Monet's work, but it is totally in his style and way of thinking about art. It is also one of a series of paintings made in the later years of his career, paintings that depict the same subject, water lilies, so perhaps others are more startling and, thus, known. However, this one is also impressive, through its mood and atmosphere, through the tones and colors used, and through its "impressionistic" technique of brushwork. "In his later works Monet allowed his vision of light to dissolve the real structures of his subjects. To do this he chose simple matter, making several series of studies of the same object at different times of day or year: haystacks, morning views of the Seine, the Gare Saint-Lazare (1876-78), poplars (begun 1890), the Thames, the celebrated group of Rouen Cathedral (1892-94), and the last great lyrical series of water lilies (1899, and 1904-25), painted in his own garden at Giverny"

As the title suggests, the painting is a landscape whose main "character" are some water lilies of different colours, floating on the water that reflects the landscape around. The view is concentrated on the water surface, and the surrounding landscape can only be quested by its reflection, thus pointing out to the subject of the painting. The reflection in the water is hazy, so you can't really see what it is that is reflecting, so by contrast the water lilies appear clearly, even though they aren't more clearly painted, the brushwork hasn't changed.

Another thing that impresses is the way in which the water is perceived by its properties of reflection, and not by colour. The lilies seem to float peacefully across a tranquil surface of water that captures a detailed rendition of the surrounding trees and bushes. Their color is in contrast with the deep greens of the landscape, making their presence an event worth capturing on canvas.

Because of the colors used, the atmosphere of the painting is not so exuberant, but it doesn't seem sad either. It seems tranquil, and lush in all its greenness, even wild. The greens and browns tone down the joyfulness of the painting, and the eye-catching elements are the brighter colours of the flowers, which present themselves as spikes of energy for the ensemble.

The element most impressive is the brushwork, and how outlines are created without delineating clearly the elements of the composition, in pure impressionistic style. "Contemplating the sky reflected in the water lead Monet to turn his back on realistic outlines and took him to the verge of abstraction. Perspective and space, that once were so important to him a few years before, disappeared from his paintings. He stopped looking at the Japanese bridge, the flowers and plants and immersed himself in the contemplation of water mirroring clouds in the sky" In his later works the abstraction of the elements is more final. "Shapes and space have disappeared after Monet has finally wrought a complete transmutation of colours and elements so that the sky, the earth, water and plants intermingle in paintings very near abstraction." This painting, however, isn't that abstract, and the elements of the composition don't require much thought for identification. Still, the water, the sky and the vegetation seem to continue as one, and the brushwork supports that idea.

This painting may not be one of the most known of Monet's, but it carries all his trademarks, and is just as beautiful and striking as any other made by him. As with other impressionist works, the striking element remains the brushwork, and the way in which the mixing of vibrant colours on the canvas creates shapes and feelings alike inside the viewer.