Birthday Boy-Oscar Claude Monet

A photo of the young Bohemian Monet from 1860-age 20.

November 14th--Happy 170th birthday, Claude Monet, the Frenchman who left us with so much beauty while he was fathering Impressionist painting. The Impressionists were the rule breakers of 19th century who cut loose with accurate depiction of light, natural surroundings out of the studio, broken color, and rapid brush strokes. Claude was the daddy of it all, being the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy. The term Impressionism came from his painting, Impression, Sunrise, (1872), when the critic, Louis Lecroy, wrote a

satirical review of the painting and the term stuck. Monet had titled the painting, Impression, because he felt the image created could not be accurately taken as an actual view of Le Havre harbor, but was his impression, instead. It is fascinating that even though the sun appears to be the brightest spot in this painting, research has proven it actually has the same measured luminance as the sky. If a black and white copy of the painting is made, the sun practicallydisappears. According to neurological researchers, this gives the painting a very realistic quality because the older part of the brain's visual cortex, which we share with most mammals, measures brightness only and not color. Only the newer visual cortex found in human and primate brains perceives the color.

Monet rarely painted a scene only once and this was the case with the Cliffs at Etretat (shown below) in the Haute-Normandie area of northern France.

The Cliffs Etretat, Sunset 1883

The Cliffs at Etretat After a Storm 1870. I like the 'caloges' in this painting..the thatched boats turned into little abodes. This painting was done from a hotel room window. The real thing, no impression here. The rock formation pictured is one of the many "hollow needles" or natural arches in this area.