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Dana Larson

ARTHIST 102

Proffesor Aschenbrenner

02/25/09

The piece observed for this paper is Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, Oil on

canvas, ca. 1903, by Claude Monet 1840-1926. This painting is a modernist painting in

the Impressionist style, and illustrates the Impressionist aesthetic in the melding of

objective and subjective. The term Impressionism originates in 1874 when a crtitic

reacted to Monet's painting Impression: Sunrise, using the deragotive term

Impressionism to describe the sketchy appearance of the piece.(823) The Impresionist

movement in art was thus coined by a critics reaction to Monet's hurried and somewhat

blurred aproach to painting, which places great significance on the objective or the

object being depicted, and the subjective or the artists interpretation of the object while

placing less importance on the psycological and emotional state of the viewer. From a

techinical perspective Monet's painting is concerned with light and it's effect on

percieved form, and light's relationship/interaction with color and the eye's perception of

this phenomona. An analogy can be drawn between the Impressionist movement in

painting and music. The Impressionist aesthetic in music is exemplified in the works of

Claude Debussy 1862-1918. Debussy's music conveys the ideal of the impressionist

movement in it's attempt to depict a moment in time, not relating directly to theemotional or psycological state of the composer or listener. Monet the leading proponet

of Impressionist ideals in painting captures a moment in time, in the painting Waterloo

Bridge, Sunlight Effect. The paintings subject is a bridge over the Thames river in

London with barely visible smokestakes in the background.

Composition: The eye naturally settles on the midsection of the painting, where the

bridge runs horizontally and seperates the sky in the background from the Thames in

the foreground. The bridge and industrial landscape in the background are vieled in

shadow, and sillouetted against the lighter sky. This creates an effect on the viewer that

this landscape is being percieved at dusk. The eye is drawn next to a bright spot of

sunlight playing off the river in the lower right hand corner with a sillouetted figure in a

boat. Which draws the eye up to the clouds in the upper right hand corner conceiling

the setting sun from view. The composition with the bridge dividing the piece creates

balance as a result of this almost exact division of the painting. while the forms are

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almost completely enveloped in shadow and sillouette Monet brings out slight highlights

in the line created by the bridge, and in the clouds as well as a spray of light reflecting

off of the river.

Scale: The scale of this piece is comparable to that of a view from a modest window ina house. The landscape and bridge are off in the distance thereby creating a sense in

the viewer that they are percieving the bridge in reality at a distance. The effect of this

piece is monumental but the actual size is actually quite small at only 29 x 38 in. The

piece definitly has a realistic impact on the perceptions of the viewer, as if they where

looking out their back window at the river.

Color: The effect of the color scheme in this piece is relaxed and medatative. Rather

than blending colors Monet juxtaposes contrasting colors in patches to imitate the

efffect of light interacting with these colors in various intensities and settings. This is

best viewed up close in the water of the river were deliberate dashes of green, red, and

yellow are interdisperesd amoungst the predominant violet and blueish hues. When

viewed from a distance the effect is that the colors blend and create a natural effect

similar to water and light interacting in nature. The predominate color in this piece is

violet. The bridges color scheme is composed almost entirely of hues of violet with a

golden or yellow line catching the rays of the sun on the bridges ralling. The same

effect is used for the clouds in the upper right hand corner, with the outine of the clouds

depicting the barely escaping rays of sunlight outlining their forms.

Texture: The paint is applied with moderate thicknes that is perceivable up close.

When viewd at distances of aproximatley 5 ft. or further this texture is not noticeable.

The effect that the painting has at a distance is that of a smooth blending of all the

paintings elements, thereby mitigating the thickness of the paint as applied by Monet.

Depth: This piece has a percieved use of perspective with objects in a 3d world as

depicted on a 2d surface. The naturalistic setting of a bridge over a river gives this

piece a relatively open and spacious feeling, while it's actual size 28 x 39 in. is rather

small. Depth is achieved by the layering of objects in space, begining with the river in

the foreground the bridge and the box-like factories in the far off background. And the

clouds and the skyline providing the space in which this moment in time was captured.

The viewer does not as in tromp l' oeil painting interact with this piece directly rather the

piece has a photo or picture like quality as if viewed out a window.

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Lighting: The lighting is dusk like, with the sun vield behind cloud cover outlining cloud

forms and eventually reflecting off the water surface. The boat in the river as well as the

bridge, factories, and smokestacks are all sillouetted againt the lighter water and

skyline. All of the physical objects in this piece are covered in shadow and orsillouetted. The brightest element of this piece is the river in the right hand corner were

some of the sun light's rays create bright yellows, oranges and some white, matching

the effect real light has when reflected off water.

Line: Line is hazy and undefined. The detail in this piece is somewhat ambigous, while

at the same time enhancing the realistic effect of distance viewed in low quality light. It

is interesting to note that some of Monet's critics accused him of destroying form.(824)

There is in the bridge a line that is created by the effect of light running along the top

edge or ralling of the bridge. This line has a natural almost organic flow that leads the

eye from left to right. The bridges arches create a sense of contour and subtraction of

weight, emphasising seperation from the line of the water level.

In conclusion through use of realistic lighting effects, in a hazy dusky setting,

Monet captures a relaxed and medative moment in time. Thereby excelling at meeting

the expectations created in the viewer perceiving this piece from the Impressionist

aethethic point of view. The ideals of the Impressionist movement in summary are;

emphasis on light's interaction with form and color, capturing of a transitory moment intime, juxtoposition of colors on the canvass that trick the eye viewing these colors from

a distance into interpreting the realistic interaction of light with objects in space and

time, and an emotional and psycological detachment that is a combination of the

objective and subjective in relaxed and medative reflection upon the percieved moment

in time being depicted.