Blog 50
This week, we had
our annual Painting Buddies Christmas lunch. The Painting Buddies are
a group of artist friends who get together in the Ottawa area to
paint outside. While we were really active the last couple of years,
this year we did not paint much together. Everyone was busy with
their own lives but we still managed to meet this week to celebrate
our friendship and the Christmas season. Usually, we only go to a
local restaurant but this time we decided to visit the National
Gallery of Canada to see the special exhibition “
This week, we had
our annual Painting Buddies Christmas lunch. The Painting Buddies are
a group of artist friends who get together in the Ottawa area to
paint outside. While we were really active the last couple of years,
this year we did not paint much together. Everyone was busy with
their own lives but we still managed to meet this week to celebrate
our friendship and the Christmas season. Usually, we only go to a
local restaurant but this time we decided to visit the National
Gallery of Canada to see the special exhibition “Monet: A Bridge to
Modernity”.
Claude Monet
(1840–1926), is one of France's most famous impressionist painters,
who aspired to capture the fleeting impressions of nature in his
plein air works.The exhibition contains twelve artworks of Monet's
bridges from collections around the world. Claude Monet created the
paintings between 1872 and 1875 in Argenteuil, a small town on the
outskirts of Paris .
One of early pieces
of this time is his painting “The Wooden Bridge - Le pont de bois
(1872)”, a piece that is currently on long-term loan to the
National Gallery. The rather dark painting shows the highway bridge
under repair following the destruction during the Franco-Prussian War
(1870–1871). The composition with the cropped bridge gives you the
impression of a picture within a picture.
Monet was very
productive during his years in Argenteuil. He experimented with
different viewpoints, techniques, colours and brushstrokes to develop
his own style of landscape painting. His bridge paintings lay the
groundwork for Monet's status as one of the leading artist of modern
art.
It is very
interesting that his first paintings of the time are rather somber,
reflecting the mood of the post-war town, while his later works are
bright and full of vivid brushstrokes. His reflections on the water
and his beautiful clouds really captured me.
“Monet: A Bridge
to Modernity” runs until 15 Feb 2016 at the National Gallery of
Canada. Maybe, you will find some time between the holidays to check
it out. Even though it is a small exhibition, it is definitely worth
the visit.
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