The Picture of Edouard Manet The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil - Essay Example

Visual Arts and Film StudiesAbstract The era of impressionism made a great contribution to the history of Fine Art and inserted in the society such famous painters as: Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and other famous painters. The stream of Impressionism appeared in France at the beginning of the XX century and then expanded all over the world. Its representatives tried to learn the means of representation of the world in its natural and changeable nature. French Impressionism did not raise the philosophical problems and did not even try to get under the surface of ordinary events.

Instead, it focused on the bright and important moments of mood and the stream of time. The aim of this paper is to analyze the work of Edouard Manet “The Monet family in their garden at Argenteuil” and reveal the peculiarities which are appropriate for this time period. As the Art of the Renaissance period, Impressionism is based on the characteristics and skills of the perception of perspective. It was not important what was on the picture, but the ways it was created and painted were meaningful.

The paintings of impressionists provided the audience only with positive emotions, as they revealed the best sides of life, without affecting social problems, such as hunger, disease, and death. Later it led to a split among the Impressionists. The picture of Edouard Manet “The Monet family in their garden at Argenteuil” is a great representation of the Impressionism. It was created in the 1874. In this period of time Edouard Manet was influenced by the artistic skillfulness of Claude Monet and his approach to the painting outdoors.

“Monet was the first and the foremost contributor to the birth of Impressionism and to the new manner of expressing a vision, where reality was interpreted in ways never before imagined – fresh, airy, harmonious, where colors dazzled in all their solar intensity, where nature was discovered in joyous vibrating life and in changing skies” (Martini, A., 1978, 5). In summer 1874, Manet stayed at the home of his family, which lived not far from the premise of object of his inspiration. The painting represents the family portrait of Monet: his wife Camille Monet, the son Jean and Claude Monet himself working in the garden on the left of the picture.

It became the masterpiece of the Impressionism Epoch. Edouard Manet was impressed by the works and technique of Claude Monet. “Impressionism reveals a different reality, clarifying Monet’s original intentions and correcting misconceptions in the understanding of his works” (Lallemand, H., 1994, 5) The subject of the painting possesses the features of simple portrait, but the simplicity is supported by the great mastership of the painter. The style of work comprises the elements of classical and casual art.

On the one hand the picture represents a beautiful lady, well-dressed and holding her son on the knees. On the other hand, the nobility of the picture is diluted with the simplicity of nature and the man, simply dressed. The picture wasn’t badly criticized as it did not possess anything unusual for that period of time. The scandal was provoked with Manet’s another picture “Olympia”. The Art of Edouard Manet is the great representation of the epoch of Impressionism. “Among the notable achievements of Impressionism was its revelation of the dazzling possibilities of landscape painting, especially when it was practiced by an artist prepared to set up and easel in the open air and work freely and spontaneously to capture the fugitive moods of nature” (Mannering, D., 1997, 7).

The epoch of Impressionism was definitely important for the development of World Fine Art and the formation of the techniques and methods, used by the modern painters. ReferencesLallemand, H., 1994. Monnet impressions of light. New York: Smithmark Publishers Inc. Mannering, D., 1997. The masterworks of Monet, Great Britain: Parragon Martini, A., 1978. Monet, New York: A venel books.