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Description: | Signed: yes Description: L'église de Vétheuil in the Southampton collection has long been considered one of the masterpieces of Impressionism. It was painted during the period when Monet lived in the town of Vétheuil on the river Seine (1878-81). During this and the preceding years, Monet suffered considerable poverty. However, during the crucial years spent at Vétheuil he made the great stylistic advances which would lead to his series paintings, and he began to achieve the moderate financial success, which would finally allow him to settle at Giverny in 1883. In L'église de Vétheuil Monet broke into new territory announcing pointillism to the future. Probably painted in one sitting from a boat located near the centre of the river, Monet, who was always dedicated to rendering the transitory effects of light through the direct observation of nature, here achieves an extraordinary sense of atmospheric movement with his bright palette and innovative technique of broken, rhythmic brushwork, creating a vivid scene in which every element appears to have been caught in flux. Moreover, Monet achieved this sense of mobility within the confines of a rigorously structured, yet informal composition divided into three bands: the sky obtains great depth and translucency by being painted with a thin uneven layer of pale blue pigment; the brightly lit buildings of the town, dominated by the church, are painted in thick dry paint, literally enhancing their solid presence; while the broad expanse of water that fills the lower half of the canvas, catches all the early afternoon light of the scene, reflecting back on its fragmented surface the image of the peopled river banks, the animated boaters and the town buildings. | Subjects: | France) townscape; place (Vétheuil | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Monet, Claude (French painter, 1840-1926) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8403... | Go to resource |
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