Claude Monets Impression, Sunrise

The Impression, Sunrise is a famous painting by Claude Monet. It portrays a misty background set in the French harbor of Le Havre, his hometown. The orange hues contrast with the dark vessel as it seems to be a reflection of the sun rising in the background. There are multiple small boats in the foreground with people on board with them propelled along the waters movement. Monet was a painter known for his ability to paint vibrant colors and shades of black with great skill. Impression, Sunrise is an example of his talent where though the small boats in the foreground are dark and have very little detail, they are critical to the painting.

Monet had an exhibition from April 15 to May 15, 1874, together with over thirty other artists, including Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Alfred Sisley, and Camille Pissarro (Impression Sunrise 2021). The presentation initially was named Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc. Inc.. They organized this exhibition as they got rejected at the Paris Salon, the most significant annual exhibition. During the presentation, Impression, Sunrise received the most acknowledgment, with several attendees claiming to be unable to understand what the theme was at all (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). The artwork depicts an early foggy morning clogged with smoke from factories or possibly some steamships. This depiction compares to the actual scene of the harbor depicted in the painting where there were houses that Monet decided to ignore to focus on the industrial aspect.

Claude Monet painted Impression, Sunrise in the year 1872. It shares a name with the movement with which Monet lead. Its dimensions are 53 cm in height and 46 cm in length, with its current display location being the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, France, which also hosts a majority of Monets works. The painting sparked an art movement that continued for decades. Impression, Sunrise was completed when exhibitions were shunning Impressionists such as Claude Monet and others. At the time Monet painted Impression, Sunrise, he had a liking to painting industrial life (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). However, his vision was to be a landscape painter emphasizing the lighting rather than its architectural features. This style of painting is different from the traditional way of undertaking art.

Louis Leroy, a detractor who attended the presentation, wrote a famous article in which he used the term Impressionist based on the paintings title (Impression Sunrise By Claude Monet 2021). He intended it to be derogatory, but by the third exhibition, artists had embraced it and called themselves Impressionist (Kleiner 2020). They considered their preliminary work as finished, which at the time was a radical modernist idea. Other critics said that Monet chose the title Impression to avoid criticism as the painting lacked details and appeared incomplete. Despite the criticism the painting Impression, Sunrise received at the time; today receives a favorable view from modern art critics who describe it as Monets best work.

The painting is in some ways not typical of art by Monet during that period and Impressionism in general. The light and color show little of the impressionist treatment. The art restrains the colors, and the paint gets applied in very thin washes rather than brushstrokes of contrasting shades (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). The technique used for the painting was sketchy and would have been a preparatory study rather than a complete work worthy of an exhibition. There is the use of impasto to depict the reflected sunlight on the surface of the sea.

Monet also saw the work as incomplete, and as a result, he embraced the title Impression to distinguish it from his other works, such as Le Harve. A few brushstrokes merely suggest the boats in the foreground and the dockyard in the background (Impression Sunrise By Claude Monet 2021). The paint got seen as Monets attempt to capture a fleeting moment during a sunrise. This technique attracts more attention rather than the content of the painting itself.

The painting background is conceptual and can be interpreted in multiple ways depending on the viewer of the artwork. The seascape is somewhat ambiguous, and one cannot fully discern its elements (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). The painting has some timelessness because everyone who views it, whether they saw it during the first exhibition or viewed it today at the museum, would develop their symbolism and meaning of the artwork.

The original title of the painting was Marina, which Monet changed after his colleague, Edmond Renoir, requested it. The art received heavy criticism from the public as seen as incomplete. However, someone bought the painting for 800 francs which was a disappointing sale (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). Monets daughter later donated the artwork together with other works to Musée Marmottan, currently on display and is considered a national treasure (Impression Sunrise 2021). The Impression, Sunrise painting is regarded as one of the most famous Impressionists together with the night stars artwork by Van Gogh.

The impressionist paintings emphasized color and light rather than details, with sunlight being a perfect example. The suns light is set on the paintings right side while its reflection is on other parts. Monet uses composition as the sea encompasses more of the art than the sky. The waters nature in the ocean allows it to reflect the sky above it and the sun, whose beams are reflecting from the water (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). The nearest boat that is dark stabilizes the color key with the other dark parts such as the sea or the waterlines edges.

Monet uses color to capture in detail the brisk cold morning with the use of blue and orange from the sun to depict warmth. The orange color blends and reflects in the sky, while below it reflects against the water. In terms of perspective, the painting starts in the water. This start conveys a degree of endlessness in work as the beginning and end of the water cannot be seen and as it blurs out in the background. The Académie des Beaux-Arts initially rejected to accept Impression, Sunrise as they saw Impressionist artwork as lacking necessary mastery worthy of exhibiting.

Impression: Sunrise was in line with the painting style preferred by Claude Monet, which was a burgeoning style. This painting style is where one paints in an open area and finishes the painting in one sitting(Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021). The art community has a rumor that Monet completed the Impression: Sunrise painting in one sitting standing across a window with the perspective of the harbor during Sunrise.

The ideals that the artists held led by Monet to create an independent exhibition were on the desire to paint with a style that favored one to express their current feelings. These ideals were inspired by the fact that at the time, there were advances in technology that brought on photography Impression Sunrise 2021). Photography made painters focus on the science behind light and colors, which were essential for the Impressionist artists (Impression Sunrise 2021). Monets Impression: Sunrise exemplified this focus by giving the painting an impression of the environment and landscape rather than its accuracy, also referred to as Plein-Air painting (Impression Sunrise, Claude Monet: Analysis 2021).

Impression Sunrise inspired other works, which include Le Harve, En Plein Air, and Photography. While painters who used traditional painting styles saw photography as a threat to future art, the impressionist welcomed and adopted it and used it (Impression Sunrise 2021). With Impressionism used to display used to convey a scene at a particular time, whether dusk or dawn, photography could make the scene last long after the scene has faded.

In conclusion, Impression, Sunrise is a painting of a dockyard in the morning that uses short brushstrokes of color on canvas without any form of a sketch. By painting and exhibiting it, Claude Monet started the impressionist movement that uses the technique that emphasizes color and light rather than the subject matters details. Although criticized and shunned in the past as lacking in detail, shape, and form, modern-day artists extensively employed and adopted the impressionist style even though with slight variation. In many ways, the painting brings out different opinions from people on it, whether they viewed it during the first exhibition or recently.