21 Things .15

Impressions of Impressionism

This weekend, at the suggestion of a very thoughtful friend, I took myself to an art gallery to see an exhibit of Claude Monet's paintings!

My overall impression (no pun intended) was one of quiet awe. As I entered the first room, crowded with sightseers huddled in clumps around gilded frames, my eyes welled up with tears (on more than a few occasions). 
Such emotion wasn't unexpected, but I wondered, was I crying because I was seeing these original, revered works of art in person? My immediate answer was no - although it was an incredible and surreal experience, the idea of seeing one of my favourite artist's work stirred in me jittery excitement more than anything. Why then?
It took me the entire visit to sift through my thoughts, and I slowly but surely came to the realization that I was overcome by the sense of life in his work - almost a palpable presence in the room.
Now that may sound rather silly but let me explain...

As I gazed at the first painting I wondered whether I would have enjoyed it if I didn't know Monet had painted it. The truthful answer was that, no, I wouldn't even glance twice at some of his more abstract pieces. With this realization I felt a bit ashamed because I'm taught, especially with Modern Art to be able to appreciate art for the sake of art, or to find the art's message entirely in the (often ambiguous) piece itself. Many modern pieces go so far as to expect the viewer to find the meaning simply in what they personally make of it. In Modern Art, I often get the sense that the artist as a person is distant from their artwork and subsequently the viewer. 
Now Modern Art certainly intrigues me, and there are contemporary pieces that have moved me deeply, but they have yet to speak to my soul as Monet's paintings. 
After all these thoughts rushed through my head, I flushed as the shame was replaced with the thrill of understanding that liking Monet's work because it was painted by Monet is okay. The Impressionist's work was revolutionary, and in fact paved the way for modern art, and yet they painted what they loved. Understanding their journey enhances my appreciation. Monet's life story is inseparable from his work.

So for me, my love of Impressionist art and my walk through the gallery that day was a biographical one. To be able to see the bold and dancing brush strokes and the texture of paint that created the illusion of flickering colours of nature (sometimes Monet mixed sand from the beach into his paint when he was capturing beach scenes, and he never used black, believing it wasn't a natural colour of nature). Such things revealed Monet's pioneering genius. But at the same time I was surprised by the simplicity of some of his work, and his inadequate renderings of the world. When looking at his pictures online, the incomplete corners of canvases are omitted. 
So yes, I got to see the work of an artist I have long admired, but he is just a man after all - imperfect and incapable of capturing what he saw.

He knew better than anyone that trying to capture the light as he desired was impossible. "Quite beyond my powers", he said, and yet (and this is what I find so beautiful) he painted anyway. He exuded a quiet resilience that kept him at his easel even as he began to go blind, and when the battlefront of World War I encroached on his garden in Giverny. 
"I would much rather die here" he said, "in the middle of what I have done."

Getting a glimpse of the world through Monet's perceptive eyes is a testament to the fact that one human soul is truly an epic on the grandest scale.