What is the significance of Monet's art in history?

It broke through the conservative thought of the previous academic school, greatly impacted the official art which dominated the western painting world in the second half of the19th century, and made an important contribution to turning a new page in the history of modern western painting.

Left a valuable artistic wealth for future generations. It should be said that Monet was the first successful impressionist painter. Although the later artistic schools such as Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism did not follow some principles established by Impressionism, the artists who founded these schools all drew nutrition from Impressionism.

It is also necessary to mention the impressionist ideas and techniques, which were originally put forward based on realistic observation. However, because they are keen on describing light and color, and even mystifying them, there is a tendency to ignore real images. Monet once said: in painting, you should forget what kind of objects are in front of you, and only think of a small blue square, a small pink rectangle and a trace of yellow.

Therefore, the painter's attention in his creation is not focused on the scenery to be expressed, but on the effects produced by the spatial environment, light, smoke and airflow around the scenery, or only limited to expressing the instantaneous impression left by the lighting of the scenery under certain conditions.

Therefore, it may lead to grasping only subtle changes and losing the grasp of the overall situation; It only reflects the subtle color levels, but ignores the consequences and overall situation of the scenery.

Impressionist painters shoulder the historical responsibility of re-studying the relationship between light and color. They are no longer based on traditional laws and dogmas. Inspired by barbizon School and British landscape painters' outdoor painting, they boldly walked out of the studio and created sketches in the face of nature. After sketching outdoors, they seldom go back to the studio to rearrange, so that their works can keep the vividness of outdoor sketching.

After sketching outside, most schools in barbizon returned to the studio to create and organize. According to the development of contemporary science, impressionist painters understand the composition of light and the relationship between light and color, and rely on their own eyes to visually reproduce the impression caused by light and color of objects. In this way, people have completed a great revolution in grasping color.

At present, the color theory taught by the Academy of Fine Arts, as well as the well-known color knowledge such as conditional color, contrast color and color elements, all come from the research results of impressionist color.

Style characteristic

Monet is described as "the driving force behind Impressionism". The key of impressionist painter's art is to understand the influence of light on the local color of objects and the influence of color juxtaposition. His free and fluent style and color application are described as "almost ethereal" and "the epitome of impressionist style"; Impression, sunrise is an example of the "basic" impressionist principle, that is, only what is purely visible is depicted.

Monet is fascinated by the effect of light and paints in the air-he thinks his only "advantage is to paint directly in front of nature, trying to present the most fleeting effect" and wants to "paint the air". He often combines the theme of modern life with outdoor lighting.

John Singer Sargent, claude monet's Wood Edge Painting, 1885, Tate British Art Museum.

Monet regards light as the central focus of his painting. In order to capture its changes, he sometimes finishes a painting in one breath without preparation. He wants to show how light changes color and perception of reality. His interest in light and reflection began in the late1860s and ran through his whole career.

When he first arrived in London, he had an admiration for the relationship between artists and patterns-he thought it was an "envelope". He quickly wrote down the theme and theme with a pencil drawing for future reference.

Monet's description of scenery emphasizes industrial elements such as railways and factories. His early seascape paintings are characterized by soft colors and dull nature described by local residents.