From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Impression, Sunrise (Impression,
soleil levant) is a painting by Claude Monet, for which the Impressionist
movement was named.
Dated 1872, its
subject is the harbour of Le
Havre in France, using
very loose brush strokes that suggest rather than delineate it.
Monet explained the title later:
|
“ |
Landscape is nothing but
an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was
given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le
Havre, from my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats
sticking up in the foreground....They asked me for a title for the
catalogue, it couldn't really be taken for a view of Le Havre, and
I said: 'Put Impression.' [1] |
” |
It was displayed in 1874 during the first independent art show
of the Impressionists (who were not yet known by that name). Critic
Louis Leroy,
inspired by the painting's name, titled his hostile review of the
show in Le
Charivari newspaper, "The Exhibition of the
Impressionists", thus inadvertently naming the new art movement. He
wrote:
|
“ |
Impression — I was
certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was
impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what
freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state
is more finished than that seascape. |
” |
The painting was stolen from the Musée Marmottan Monet in 1985 and
recovered in 1990. Since 1991 it has been back on display in the
museum.
Digitally desaturated version of the painting--note how
the Sun and its reflection on the water are virtually invisible
here
Monet painted the sun as having almost exactly the same luminance as that of the
sky, a condition which suggests high humidity and atmospheric
attenuation of light. This detail relies on the use of complementary colours and variety of colour temperature, rather than changes in
color intensity or contrast of values, to differentiate the sun
from the surrounding sky.
See also
References
- ^
Cited by Forge, Andrew, and Gordon, Robert: Monet, page
58. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989.
External
links
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