Oil painting on Canvas
Painting Name: Bridge over a pond of lilies
Artist’s Name: Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Medium: Oil painting on Canvas
Genre: Impressionist
The bridge over a pond of lilies was painted by Claude Monnet in the last thirty years of his life, as a part of an eighteen series piece. The contains an arched wooden bridge and a pond in which the artist centers a horticultural theme. On the pond are visible water lilies of various colors floating on the surface. On the other hand, the image’s background depicts green vegetation in which the pond winds up. It is possible to see the sky’s clear image through the trees, which is again reflected on the pond’s waters. The artist carefully utilizes differential colors and lighting to depict tall grasses and reeds in the pond’s reflection.
This painting takes a vertical format and uses oil paints on canvas to depict informal but natural scenes. As a result, the painting does not include any outlines on the objects; instead, the emphasis is placed on reflecting the objects in the pond of water (Amory). The artist utilizes the flat, squared rapid brushstrokes and dabs to ensure that the painting is not dark. In this painting, the artist has paid special attention to the bridge and reflection of nature in water, evidenced by the focus on the reflection of the sky, bridge, and plants in the pond waters. Using different coloring such as white and yellow lines, the artist effectively captures the viewer’s attention and steers the audience’s vision around the art. At a glance, it may look as if the painter was standing on top of the bridge to make the painting since it is made level with the bridge, which takes a curved shape in the painting. Moreover, the author utilizes vertical lines to depict the green plants and bushes behind the bridge.
Additionally, the painting is made more appealing using various colors on the canvas. The bridge, which is suspended like a canopy in the middle of the painting, is painted blue, while its reflection at the bottom of the painting is brownish. A green color, however, dominates due to the heavy presence of nature throughout the painting. Gain, the water in the pond, clearly reflects the plants’ mixed colors so that it is easy to differentiate between the various plants reflected on the banks of the pond. Additionally, the painting is radiant, which enables the viewers to feel the presence of the garden. Using different coloring, the artist allows the viewer to interpret the lilies’ levels of growth in the water.
This painting heavily borrows from the impressionist painting style, which originated from Monet’s colleague in Paris. This movement drifted away from the realism movement by taking an independent approach to the use of color cubism, lighting, and abstraction (Kargi et al.). A notable aspect of impressionist artists focuses on the expression of nature and the eventual use of color to facilitate this (Wildenstein). By the 1870s, various scientific studies of light coupled with the invention of chemical pigments provided new colors to paint, ‘en plen air,’(outdoor). Additionally, impressionists studied outdoor lighting, which allowed them to produce the true color of an object using reflection, as seen in this painting.
Claude Monet was a renowned figure in the impressionist movement. From an early age, he was aware of his dream to become an artist and thus declined his father’s aspirations for him to continue the family grocery business. Monet’s artistic career established a foundation when he joined the Le Havre secondary school; and begun selling his paintings. In the course of his education, he met renowned persons such as Eugene Boudin, who would have a significant impact on his artistic career (Amory). Later on in Paris, Monet became a student of Charles Gleyre, where he encountered major artists such as Frederic Bazille and Alfred Sisley with whom, they founded the new impressionist style of painting, the effects of light using broken colors and rapid brushstrokes. After learning various artistic styles, including the Barbizon painters’ techniques during his travels, Monet found fascination with painting nature (Amory). He would later settle in Giverny and pursue his interest in reflections and two-dimensional imageries to depict nature. The ‘Bridge over water a pond of lilies’ demonstrates Monet’s expertise using lighting to depict nature and the true colors of objects in nature.
Works Cited
Amory, Dita. Metmuseum.Org, 2007, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bfpn/hd_bfpn.htm.
Kargi, Eda, and Yucel Yazgin. “Reflections of Play and Toys on Impressionist Painting Children and Play as a Pictorial Expression.” Creativity Research Journal 30.1 (2018): 113-117.
Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet, Or, The Triumph of Impressionism. Taschen, 1999.