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Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son
1875, Claude Monet
National Gallery of Art, DC
Woman with a Parasol- Madame Monet and Her Son is of Camille Doncieux Monet (28) and her son Jean Monet (8).
Camille started modeling for Claude Monet in 1865, when she was 18 years old. She gave birth to Jean in 1867 and was Monet's mistress until they married in 1870.
The family move to Argenteuil where they lived for seven years (1871-1878). During this time Monet and his friends painted many masterpieces. In 1878 Camille gave birth to their second son, Michael and due to her failing health the family moved to Vétheuil. Camille died on September 5, 1879 at that age of 32.
Monet painted 34 pictures of Camille from 1865, when he met her, to her death 1879. She also modeled for other great artists such as Manet and Renior.
Monet painted 11 pictures of Jean, mostly when he was a young child. Jean trained to be a chemist in Switzerland. He married Blanche Hoschedé in 1897 and died in 1914. He is buried at Giverny..
This beautiful painting was shown at the Second Impressionist Exhibition in 1876 and has all the qualities of an impressionist painting; visible brush strokes, distinct colors, painted outdoors, ordinary subject matter, emphasis on natural light and inclusion of movement.
If you stand back a ways from the painting (or look at the picture above) you clearly see a woman holding a parasol and a boy (ordinary subject matter) standing in a field (painted outdoors) with the sun (natural light) at their backs.
In discussing this painting he National Gallery of Art said;
"Behind all of this (the mother and son) is a glorious sky with clouds brushed almost wildly in white and yellow evoking wind and sun" 5
The beauty of impressionism is that when we get close we see the visible brush strokes and the distinct colors. We see the yellow on both the ground and her dress to give us a sense of reflection. To the left, of the close up, we see the blue on her white dress that Monet used to give us the impression of shade. The close up is of the bottom right corner of her dress as you look at the painting.
What do you think of This Painting, Monet, Impressionism?
Close up of Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son
1875, Claude Monet
National Gallery of Art, DC
Sources:
1 Claude Monet
2 Camille Monet
3 Jean Monet
4 Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son at National Gallery of Art, DC
5 Auditory of Woman with a Parasol, Monet
6 Wikipedia: Impressionism
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