Original title: Poppies at Argenteuil

Year of creation: 1873

Musee d'Orsay, Paris.

Oscar Claude Monet (November 14, 1840 - December 5, 1926) - French painter, one of the founders of impressionism.

Field of Poppies (1873), exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition, depicts Monet's wife Camille and their son Jean in a field near their home in Argenteuil. As in many other works by Monet, Camille is painted with an umbrella in her hands, and its graceful outlines give the painting a special charm. Wanting to convey a sense of movement, Monet added a second pair of figures (also based on Camille and Jean) at the top of the hill. They are connected to the figures in the foreground by a barely noticeable path running through the grass. Monet painted “Field of Poppies” en plein air, on a small portable canvas. Although the painting conveys a natural, spontaneous feeling, it is carefully composed. This is expressed not only in the fact that the artist repeated the figures twice on it, but also in the choice of angle, which is set in such a way that the bright poppies filling the left side of the composition are located diagonally, along which Camille and Jean walk, as if leaving beyond the picture. Saturated color and the movement that fills this part of the picture is in careful contrast with the calm tones of the upper right edge of the canvas, where the terracotta roof of the house skillfully connects the background with the foreground of the composition.

Description of the painting by Claude Monet “Poppies” (At Argenteuil)

Monet’s work “Poppies”, its second name “Field of Poppies at Argenteuil”, was painted by the artist in 1873. The landscape of the poppy field depicted in the picture, with a small ridge of trees, as if separating the sky from the earth, at first gives the feeling of a simple plot. But looking deeper into the picture, you realize that the first impression was deceptive.

The picture can be figuratively divided into two perpendicular lines into four plots. The horizontal line, as if roughly and clearly outlined, cuts the slightly visible, virtual vertical line. The house depicted on the canvas is a kind of center of intersection of two lines, connecting the composition into one whole.

The picture is noteworthy for its semantic and sensory load, displayed by the silhouettes of women with children located on the top of the hill and its slope. The woman and boy we see in the foreground of the picture are none other than the artist’s wife and son. The unusual composition gives an illusory vision of a painting within a painting. The repeated image of silhouettes gives the feeling of women and children moving along an imperceptible path. The tree rising above the hill increases the fullness and importance of this part of the work.

The right, almost colorless, part contrasts against the background of a blooming poppy field and is the background for the female silhouette depicted at the intersection of adjacent areas of the picture.

With just a few brush strokes the artist outlined the sky. Parts of the canvas untouched by paint show the author’s reluctance to focus attention on the upper part of the canvas.

Taken together, the picture is perceived as a commitment to earthly values that are of paramount importance. To solve the problem set for himself, the artist resorted to all the possibilities available to him to convey his vision. storyline paintings.

Impressionism appeared in France in the 1860s and upended traditional ideas about painting. Looking at the sunny, life-breathing and light-filled paintings of artists of this movement, it is difficult to believe that their works for a long time were not recognized and were considered a deviation from the canons classical painting. “Around the World” invites you to travel around France and see how different parts of the country are depicted in the works of impressionist artists.

Claude Monet. "Field of poppies at Argenteuil" (1873)

The painting “Field of Poppies...” was painted by Monet in Argenteuil, which is located just 10 kilometers from Paris and in the 19th century was a favorite vacation spot for residents of the capital. Monet and his family lived in this suburb for seven years and created many bright, colorful paintings.

In Argenteuil, the artist worked a lot in the open air: he was always attracted by the opportunity to depict on canvas a certain fragment of time, action and space. The painting “Field of Poppies at Argenteuil” reflects another passion of the artist - his love of flowers. Monet once even called his garden his main masterpiece.

This painting is clearly divided into several parts, the most important of which is the one that depicts scarlet flowers, contrasting with the empty right part of the canvas. We also see two couples painted with the artist’s wife Camille and his eldest son Jean. Their arrangement helps to structure the space of the picture and convey captured movement.

While working on the painting, Monet did not mix paints, but applied strokes of different colors, which the human eye perceives as different color shades. At the same time, the artist painted more significant things more carefully. Thus, the emphasis here is on the flowers and the upper part of the human figures in the foreground, while the field on the right side of the picture and the sky are less clearly defined.

Pierre Auguste Renoir. "Bridge to Chatou" (1875)

Chatou is another picturesque corner of France, loved by artists of a new movement. It is often called the island of the impressionists, because at this point the Seine divides into two branches. Like neighboring Argenteuil, the town of Chatou in the 19th century had an atmosphere of cheerful ease and noisy activity.

People came here to swim, go boating or have a picnic, and these simple stories were reflected in the paintings of the Impressionists. Father Fournaise's establishment under the Chatou bridge, where one could not only spend the night but also rent rooms, was Renoir's favorite place. It was in this establishment that the artist created his painting “The Rowers’ Breakfast”, in which he depicted his acquaintances and friends. In 1990, the Maison Fournaise restaurant was restored and now houses a small museum.

The painting "Bridge at Chatou" differs from most of Renoir's works. Unlike Monet, the artist loved to depict people much more, and also preferred a more saturated color palette. And yet “Bridge at Chatou” is a landscape in which people appear as fuzzy dark figures. The bridge is drawn more carefully than other elements, in addition, the popular boating is depicted here. The landscape is characterized by fuzzy lines and a smoky light-air environment. The absence of clearly defined human figures creates a feeling of distance, and the light and color palette help to see joy in the ordinary.

Frederic Basil. "Landscape on the banks of the Lez" (1870)

Thanks to the landscape of Basil, we travel from central France to the south, to the artist’s native region. Basil's name is much less widely known than those of his friends Monet and Renoir, since he died at the age of 28. "Landscape on the banks of the Lez" is one of latest works artist: shortly after completing work on the canvas, Basil volunteered for the Franco-Prussian War, where he soon died.

The artist completed the landscape in record time; it took him just over two months to complete it. While working, Basil's relatives were away and did not distract him from the painting. In addition, he knew the area well. So, in a letter to his brother, he indicated exactly what place he depicted: “The bank of the Lez River near the mill near Navilau and the road to Clappier.”

The painting is very different from the landscapes of Monet and Renoir, since Basil preferred to paint the sun at its zenith, and also depict a harsh light, different from the weightless and smoky light on the canvases of his friends. Basil also uses bright contrasting colors, and is more precise and thorough when working on the details of the picture. Thanks to this, we can recognize in the canvas “Landscape on the banks of the Lez” trees and vegetation characteristic of the southern part of France.

Camille Pissarro. "Boieldieu Bridge at Rouen on a Rainy Day" (1896)

Camille Pissarro went down in the history of impressionism as a master of the urban landscape. He painted several paintings depicting Rouen, located in northern France. Pissarro went to this city after seeing Claude Monet's cycle dedicated to the Rouen Cathedral.

Pissarro, like Monet, uses light and air when creating canvases. He is attracted by the possibility of depicting the city as a living organism that is in constant motion. He uses a darker color scheme and denser strokes, but at the same time his paintings look more realistic. The unusual perspective is often explained by the fact that Pissarro painted from a hotel window.

The artist sought to reflect on canvas the gradually emerging appearance of the city industrial features. This is what is interesting for Pissarro in Rouen, which, despite its exquisite architecture, late XIX century became a port city and industrial center.

Paul Cezanne. "View of the Bay of Marseille from Estac" (1885)

The landscape of Paul Cézanne again takes us back to the south of France, but at the same time it is completely different from the paintings already discussed. Cezanne's canvas even to an untrained viewer seems more daring than the works of other impressionists. It is no coincidence that the artist is often called the father of modern art.

Born in the south of the country, Cezanne often depicted southern landscapes in his paintings. The surroundings of the fishing village of Estac became one of his favorite subjects in his landscapes. In the 1880s, Cézanne, in an attempt to escape family troubles, came to Estac and painted about ten paintings in which he depicted the Bay of Marseille.

"View of the Bay of Marseille from Estac" is one of the culminating works of this period and allows us to see the features of Cézanne's painting that influenced Pablo Picasso. It's about primarily about the artist’s special dense horizontal strokes, as well as the use of such deep and saturated colors as orange-yellow. Cezanne manages to achieve a three-dimensional image of water through the use of different shades of blue color, as well as green and violet inclusions. Like other impressionists, Cezanne loved to paint the sea, sky and mountains, but in his image they seem more dense and clearly defined.

Claude Monet. Poppies. 1773 Musée D'Orsay, Paris

“Maki”, one of the most famous works Claude Monet, I saw in . However, I didn’t look at it properly then. As a fan, I was simply blown away by all the masterpieces that are in this museum!

Later, of course, I looked at “Poppies” properly. And I discovered that I hadn’t even noticed several interesting details in the museum. If you look at the picture more closely, you probably have at least three questions:

Why are poppies so large?
Why did Monet depict two almost identical pairs of figures?
Why didn't the artist draw the sky in the picture?

I will answer these questions in order.

1. Why are poppies so big?

The poppies are depicted very large. Most of them are as big as the head of the depicted child. And if you take the poppies from the background and bring them closer to the figures in the foreground, then they will be completely larger than the heads of both the child and the woman depicted. Why such unreality?

In my opinion, Monet deliberately increased the size of the poppies: this way, he once again chose to convey a vivid visual impression rather than the realism of the depicted objects.

Here, by the way, one can draw a parallel with his technique of depicting water lilies in later works.

For clarity, look at fragments of paintings with water lilies different years(1899-1926). The top work is the earliest (1899), the bottom is the latest (1926). Obviously, over time, water lilies became more and more abstract and less detailed.

Apparently “Poppy” is just a harbinger of the predominance of abstract art in later paintings Monet.

Paintings by Claude Monet. 1. Top left: Water lilies. 1899 G. Private collection. 2. Top right: Water lilies. 1908 g. Private collection. 3. Middle: Pond with water lilies. 1919 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 4. Bottom: Lilies. 1926 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

2. Why are there two pairs of identical figures in the picture?

It turns out that it was also important for Monet to show movement in his painting. He achieved it in an unusual way, depicting a barely visible path on a hill among flowers, as if trodden between two pairs of figures.

At the bottom of the hill with poppies are his wife Camille and son Jean. Camilla is traditionally depicted with a green umbrella, just like in the painting “Woman with an Umbrella”.

Up on the hill is another pair of a woman and a child, for whom Camilla and her son most likely also posed. That's why the two couples are so similar.