Claude Monet - Woman with Parasol - Painting, 1875

Claude Monet’s Woman with a Parasol was painted in 1875 (estimates range until 1878, though) and is also known by another name – On the Cliff or Madame Monet and her Son Jean. The medium of the painting is oil on canvas. Its dimensions are 47 x 39 1/4 inches. It is part of the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.. The painting is not to be confused with the similar work, “Lady with Parasol” – showing a similar motif, but on a much more cloudy day, without the son and from a different perspective.

In Woman with a Parasol, Monet’s skill at painting figures is quite apparent. Steering away from the classic style of making people sit in a stiff, artificial manner to get their portraits taken, Monet painted his subjects as part of their normal surroundings. As a result his paintings of people were spontaneous and natural.

Woman with a Parasol was most probably painted in a single sitting that lasted a number of hours. As was his style, Monet wanted to convey the impression that Madame Monet and her son were on an informal, family outing instead of trying to create an artificial looking portrait. The transient quality of time is expressed through the use of short, swift strokes in bold colors which were Monet’s signature style. The painting seems to capture a snapshot of Camille, Monet’s wife, as she takes a walk on a summer day. The depiction of wind and light convey a sense of movement. The wind-blown folds of Madame Monet’s dress seem to suggest that there is a breeze blowing. It is hard to make out where the clouds end and the Madame Monet’s scarf begins. The sunlight which is streaming in from the right provides a contrast to the wind blowing in from the left. The wind and the sun seem to converge in a whirl towards the middle of the canvas. A characteristic point of this painting is its perspective. The viewer gets an impression of looking at the figures from below. The figures seem to be silhouetted against the sky which further intensifies the effect of the sun and the light. Monet has added depth to the painting by showing his son only from the waist upwards. The green color of the underside of the parasol reflects the green of the hills. Monet has created a sharp contrast between the swirling light, winds and clouds and the solid character of the hills.

Woman with a Parasol was exhibited for the first time at the second Impressionist exhibition where it received wide acclaim.

Claude Monet: Impression, Sunrise. French: Impression, soleil levant Claude Monet: Impression, Sunrise. French: Impression, soleil levant (Click image to enlarge)

Impressions, Sunrise shows the port of Le Havre in the morning. In the background, some of the ships anchor; their silhouette disappears in the mist, though. In the foreground three small boats appear dimly. The water reflects the light of the rising sun.

Monet composed the majority of the painting in blue and violet, but the reflection of the sun on the water is painted in orange. The ships in the background serve as a structuring element and create linear structures. The diagonally arranged boats create the impression of the spatial distance, while Monet renounced at composition and further spatial effects. The aim of Impression, Sunrise is just the accurate reproduction of the very impression and its resulting mood. The atmospheric effect dominates and marginalizes the importance of the object’s shape. In order to capture the constant change of light and the flicker of the air clearly, Monet painted with small, short strokes.

From the 15th April to 15th May 1874 Monet exhibited his work together with Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and some other thirty artists. They organized their exhibition on their own as they were usually rejected at the Paris Salon. Most visitors were disgusted and even outraged over such a “graffiti”. Monet’s Impression, Sunrise “enjoyed” the most attention and some visitors even claimed that they were absolutely unable to recognize what was shown at all.

Actually, because of the high degree of abstraction, Monet did not want to call the painting “The port of Le Havre” and, hence, just named it “Impression, Sunrise”:

I was supposed to give it a title for the catalog, and since I could not call it just “View of Le Havre,” I told them: “Call it Impression.”

Monet would have liked to name all of his paintings like this.

The criticism that the paintings were nothing but some sketches meant that the visitors stayed away and the costs could not be met. Nevertheless, the term “Impressionists” became quickly popular and the participating artists started to call themselves „Exposition des Impressionistes“.

Over 100 years later, the evaluation of Monet’s work changed quite a lot and on 27 October 1985, armed robbers made their way into the opened Musée Marmottan Monet and tore Impression, Sunrise as well as eight other paintings by Monet from the walls. They were recovered only five years later.