Monet

Was Monet vor 100 Jahren mit Pinsel und Farbe serienweise malte, hielten die vier LandschaftsfotografInnen und Instagram-Stars mit der Kamera fest. Wir machten uns mit Kurator Ulf Küster auf die Spuren von Monet.

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Martina Bisaz

«Es ist toll, so wie Monet Stimmungen gemalt hat, Stimmungen mit dem Medium der Fotografie einzufangen.» Felsklippen von Étretat

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Patrick Güller

«Mich persönlich haben die Felsklippen von Étretat überwältigt. Das Lichtspiel vor Ort war reine Poesie und auch 100 Jahre nach Monet rufen die Motive grosse Emotionen hervor.» Felsklippen von Étretat

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Valentin Manhart

«Nicht nur die Orte, sondern auch Monets Werke selbst haben mich sehr inspiriert. Die Reise war wie ein Zeitstrahl des Lebens von Monet.» Giverny

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André Stummer

«Claude Monet ist mit seiner Malerei ein Vorreiter der modernen Fotografie. Seine gemalten Momentaufnahmen kommen heutigen Landschaftsbildern auf Instagram nahe. Nach den Sonnenauf- und untergängen verstehe ich seine farbenfrohen Bilder umso mehr.» Matinée sur la Seine

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En Norvégienne, 1887

In the midst of dense green foliage, the viewer’s gaze is attracted by three women clad in light dresses and bright hats. These figures are Monet’s stepdaughters Germaine, Suzanne and Blanche Hoschedé, shown fishing from a boat on the Epte. This type of rowboat, known as a Norwegian on account of the wood it was made from, was popular in France at the end of the nineteenth century. We view the scene as if seated in another boat alongside. Nothing moves; time seems to stand still. The boat appears fixed in the water, even its reflection is entirely clear. A few meandering algae are visible under the surface—the motif that was most difficult to capture, as Monet wrote in letters to friends. The scene appears entirely cut off from the world; the borders between up and down, foreground and background, reality and reflection blend and vanish seamlessly into one another.

Les Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, 1891

In this work, we are confronted by a dynamic scene of poplar trees viewed against the light of a blue sky. We see several slender trees whose dark green foliage grows denser as it reaches the crown. The thin verticals of the bare trunks give the composition an upward thrust, which is counteracted by the S-curve formed by the trees’ crowns—effectively drawing the eye into the background. Along the lower edge flows the River Epte, whose bank seems barely tangible. White clouds are rendered in rapid brushstrokes that seem to virtually vibrate on the image surface. From his purchase of the Giverny house in 1890 onwards, Monet increasingly devoted himself to the landscape motifs of his surroundings. A year later, while walking along the Epte, he discovered this row of poplars. He painted the trees from his studio boat in different weather and lighting conditions. When the trees went up for sale, Monet managed to prevent their being felled by paying a fee. The poplars were eventually cut down after he had finished a series of 23 related paintings.

Vagues à la Manneporte, ca. 1885

Monet was fascinated by the soaring natural arch, La Manneporte, near the beach at Étretat, Normandy, and depicted it several times from various viewpoints. In this version, he captured it with rapid, heavy brushstrokes—giving the picture a sketch-like look. To reach an optimal viewpoint of the isolated arch, the artist had to invest considerable effort. He had to crawl through a narrow tunnel with his painting supplies, as there was no other access on land. A mistake in calculating the tide almost ended in disaster for Monet. In a letter to Alice Hoschedé dated November 27th, 1885, he reported being surprised and thrown against a cliff by a wave from the rising tide. Though he wasn’t hurt, he was angered that the wave had carried away his finished canvases.

Matinée sur la Seine, 1897

While working from his studio boat anchored at the confluence of the Epte and the Seine in 1897, Monet produced the major series collectively known as Morning on the Seine. These works are devoted to the changing light and atmosphere on the river. The motif is repeated as a reflection in such a way that the boundaries between painted trees, branches, clouds, and their mirror images are well-nigh obscured by rising fog. Up and down are barely distinguishable; the painting might just as well be viewed upside down. In other words, clarity of composition is sacrificed to a subjective perception of space. It would appear that Monet had intended to evoke a fundamental principle of nature known to the Greeks as panta rhei, or “everything is in flux.” For he not only depicted the changing light as night gave way to day, but addressed the constant movement of two currents flowing into each other.

Le Parlement, coucher de soleil, 1904

Setting up his easel on the terrace of St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, Monet depicted the Houses of Parliament at sunset—an ambitious project that would not be completed until 1904, after several years of reworking. For him, the challenge consisted in faithfully conveying the visual impression experienced at the moment of seeing. Rather than idealizing the subject, he merely transferred fog, light and atmosphere into their equivalents in color. The imposing structure becomes the scene of a spectacle in color and light, whose spectrum ranges from dark violet and green to a luminous golden yellow. The contours of the building’s neo-Gothic towers and battlements on the opposite bank of the Thames are just discernable. The mist hovering over the river consists of a veil of fine brushstrokes spread across the scene—giving it a mysterious aura.

Audioguide

Adults CHF/ € 8 Art Club CHF / € 7. Length: 60 minutes. Available at the information desk in the museum. Example: Introduction

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Roomguide

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