An Analysis of Train in the Countryside and Sunday Afternoon by Monet and Seurat

¶ … Train in the Countryside" (c. 1872) by Claude Monet and "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte" (1884) by G. Seurat

In their artworks, "Train in the Countryside" (c. 1872) and "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte" (1884), Claude Monet and Georges Seurat, respectively, present two very different views of life in the 19th century. To identify these differences and the techniques and motifs that are offered to the viewer, this paper analyzes these paintings and reviews the relevant literature, followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning these two paintings in the conclusion.

How the painting by Claude Monet "Train in the Countryside" is presented and what techniques and motifs it offers to the viewer

As shown in Figure 1 below, the trail of smoke left by the locomotive describes a Golden Section arc that is appealing to the eye even if viewers do not understand its significance.

Figure 1. "Train in the Countryside" (c. 1872) by Claude Monet

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/

The picture is divided into a pattern of four general horizontal and vertical quadrants comprised of the sky in the background, the forest in the foreground of the train trestles to establish a horizon, the shadow-covered meadow in the foreground with multiple strollers (some with umbrellas) broken up only by the verticality of the prominent tree to the left of the painting. It is also apparent that this scene extends to infinity to the left and right, but has been cropped to present a curved sense of direction in the painting itself. In addition, realistic proportion is maintained throughout this picture. According to the Musee d'Orsay, "At a technical level, the tones of a restricted palette, homogeneous and vividly contrasted, are placed in broad areas according to a simplified distribution of light and shade, rather similar from a tonal point-of-view to the early photographs" (Monet, 2015, para. 2).

Practically devoid of vivid colors, "Train in the Countryside" was one of several paintings Monet completed of steam engine locomotives and trains in motion which were among his favorite motifs (Strieter, 1999). In this case though, the actual single locomotive is hidden behind the forest growth and its presence is only indicated by the trail of smoke left behind and only the train cars are visible. In sum, "Train in the Countryside" served to illustrate the differences between the lazy days of summer enjoyed by the French during the latter half of the 19th century due in large part to the economic benefits that resulted from the Industrial Revolution and the additional disposal income this provided the ordinary citizen and the powerful engines of growth that fueled this newfound affluence (Strieter, 1999).

Although later artworks would celebrate the functional beauty of Industrial Revolution-age machinery, Monet was working before this time had come and some modern authorities suggest this is what the locomotive was hidden. In this regard, one curator reports that, "The machine, which had not yet achieved the status of an aesthetic object, is screened here by dense trees" (Money, 2015, para. 3).

How G. Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte" add to the knowledge of French impressionism

In sharp contrast to Monet's invisible but benign steam-driven locomotive in Figure 1 above, G. Seurat's painting shown in Figure 2 below was the source of a great deal of controversy when it was first shown (Austrum, 1998). For instance, Floyd (2009) reports that, "French painter Georges Seurat was only 26 in 1886 when he first showed his subversive painting to the public. Displayed at the eighth and final Paris Impressionist exhibition, the painting's size, technique and composition scandalized impressionists" (p. 11).

Figure 2. "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat

Source: http://www.artble.com/imgs/3/d/1/98600/a_sunday_afternoon_on_the_island_of _la_grande_jatte.jpg

Although hardly "scandalous" by 21st century standards, the pointillism used by Seurat and the addition of a pet monkey created quite the stir in the late 19th century when the painting was first shown. Described by Floyd (2009) as "nebulous," the Golden section in this painting is defined by the same type of chevron-shaped triangle that is used in "The Last Supper," drawing viewers' eyes from the multiple formally attired characters to the single umbrella-carrying figure at the center and a vanishing point beyond. The picture has been cropped to capture the essential elements of the scene in a horizontal pattern that is similar to the technique used by Monet. In this case, the pattern consists of a quadrant of four bands of color (i.e., an abbreviated sky and the River Seine to the left in the background, as well as the golden-colored shoreline and a grassy area in the shadowed foreground). The proportions used in this painting have been exaggerated to fit all of the action into the small amount of space used by Seurat.