If Impressionism is about light, the same subject looks different at every hour. Claude Monet (1840 to 1926) took that idea further than anyone. From 1890 on he painted series: one subject, again and again, under different light and weather.
Looking closely: Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer)
Describe. Two tall stacks of harvested wheat stand in a field near Monet's home at Giverny, with trees, houses and hills behind. Analyze. The stacks are lit from the side by low sun; their shadows are not brown but blue and violet, and their sunny sides glow orange and pink. The whole canvas is woven of small, thick strokes in many colors. Interpret. The stacks hardly matter in themselves. They are a steady shape on which Monet could record light and air at one particular hour.
Monet painted about twenty-five canvases of the wheatstacks in late 1890 and early 1891, in summer haze, autumn sun, frost and snow. He would work on several canvases in the field at once, switching as the light changed. In 1891 he showed fifteen of them together in Paris, and they sold quickly. Next came poplars, then about thirty views of the front of Rouen Cathedral (1892 to 1894), its stone dissolving in morning blue and afternoon gold.
Key idea
Common mistake
The water lilies
At Giverny, Monet built a water garden with a pond, a Japanese-style footbridge and water lilies. For the last decades of his life he painted it in a series of more than 250 canvases. In this one there is no shore and no sky, only the surface of the water with floating lilies and the reflected clouds and trees. Late in life, despite failing eyesight, he painted huge water-lily panels that wrap around two oval rooms at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.
Why it works
Worked example: Copies or a series?
- The subject and viewpoint are the same.
- The colors differ because the light differs: cool morning against warm afternoon sun.
- Each canvas records a different time and weather.
Answer: Two different moments of light: a series, not copies.