Leon Pan

Honey 4
AP Art History
Semester Two Museum Visit
Legion of Honor

Identify Completely (artist, title, date, medium, size, etc.):
1. CLAUDE MONET, Water Lilies, 1917, oil on canvas, 65 and 3/8 x 56 inches
2. GEORGES SEURAT, Eiffel Tower, 1889, oil on wood, 24 x 15 centimeters
3. CLAUDE LORRAIN, View of Tivoli at Sunset, c. 1642-1644, oil on canvas,
39 x 53 inches
Stylistic Period or Culture (when/where):
1. Impressionism (early 20
th
century)
2. Post-Impressionism (early 20
th
century)
3. Baroque (mid-17
th
century)
Subject Iconography (What is the idea or concept? Where and when is this taking
place? Who or what is being represented?):
1. The concept of Monets painting seems to be the stillness and tranquility of
nature. When looking at the painting for the first time, one may see a simple painting of
water lilies floating in a pond, but examining the piece closely may reveal minute details.
The time captured in the piece is unknown to the viewer, but because of the brightness of
the colors, one can infer that the scene is taking place in vivid daylight. As the title of the
piece suggests, the painting captures clumps of red, blossomed water lilies floating in a
crystalline body of water.
2. Although the painting is unfinished, Seurats Eiffel Tower captures the
essence of Paris most iconic tower at sunset. The details in the painting are muffled
partially due to Seurats pointillism as well as its unfinished nature but based on the
warm, orangish-pink colors, one can assume that it is sunset in the painting. Buildings
underneath the Tower are featured as well, although the details are so muffled that it is
hard to distinguish them.
3. Lorrains painting depicts the ancient Italian town of Tivoli at the peak of
sunset, with the orange glow of the setting sun illuminating the silhouette of the city, the
surrounding woods, and the river running through the landscape. At the shores of the
river are three human figures as well as some cows and goats, revealing the presence of
life in the midst of the towns silence. The surrounding landscape seems to be incredibly
lush and bountiful, and the town in the horizon looks incredibly serene and tranquil in a
captured moment of pure peacefulness.

Significance/Function/Purpose (How does the work convey social, political, popular,
or religious values of a particular culture? What is the unique vision of the artist or
patron? What is the purpose of the work?)
1. Its difficult to determine how exactly Monets Water Lilies conveys a
particular cultures values; rather, the painting speaks to the Impressionist movement as a
whole. Monet, as one of the pioneers of the Impressionist movement, painted the piece as
a captured moment in time. Like other paintings from this stylistic period, it went against
what was conventional at the time; no longer were landscape paintings composed of
miniscule, specked details that mimicked reality to the core. Instead, as Water Lilies
suggests, scenes in nature were captured as a fleeting moment, the brushstrokes quick and
agile and the use of light penetrating the entire painting, representative of the ephemeral
beauty of the natural world.
2. Similar to Monets Water Lilies, Seurats Eiffel Tower also doesnt seem
to convey any concrete social, political, or religious values; instead, like Monet, Seurat
used this painting to exemplify a new type of art movement that was penetrating the
Western world. Eiffel Tower represents the Post-Impressionist movement that sought
to seek greater emotional understanding in artwork, more so than the natural impressions
that previous masters such as Monet and Renoir had accomplished. Seurats
understanding of color and his mastery of pointillism, which brought colors back to the
solid basics yet embedded a lasting effect on the viewer is demonstrated through this
painting, which he must have painted to further his goal of using color as an emotional
symbol.
3. A bit of background research done on Claude Lorrain revealed that he was
absolutely in love with the ancient city of Tivoli, and spent many days roaming around
the outskirts of the town and sketching furiously. This painting demonstrates the Baroque
style of dramatic use of shadow, light, and contrasting colors, as well as the use of
atmospheric perspective. All of these techniques put together make this painting an
example of idealized nature a dream-like setting that fully captures Lorrains love for
Tivoli. One can tell just by looking at the painting how much Lorrain admired this little
town, and the painting itself is a representation of his adoration for the peace and serenity
that came with Tivoli and its surroundings.





















On April 19, 2014, I explored the Legion of Honor in San Francisco as the second
semester museum visit, and was surprised to find Claude Monets Water Lilies hanging
in one of the primary galleries of the museum. Painted in France in 1917, the piece is a
rather large oil on canvas work, taking up a large portion of the wall and reminiscent of
the other large paintings that Monet had in his Water Lilies collection. When I first saw
this piece, I was awestruck by the fact that this was an original Monet painting and that I
had the opportunity to view it up close; we had analyzed his paintings in class and had
commented on his use of light and color, but seeing Water Lilies up close really gave
me a grasp on how brilliant his mastery of those elements was. I was able to step within
inches of the painting and see every single brush stroke up close, and the experience was
actually incredibly profound. I decided to write about this painting because I believed
there was a lot to it that could be extracted and analyzed if I looked even deeper beneath
the surface.
Monet painted Water Lilies exactly 45 years after he painted Impression,
Sunrise the incredibly controversial painting that launched the Impressionist
movement in the late 19
th
century and early 20
th
century. Monet died just nine years after
he finished Water Lilies, so one can assume that perhaps this painting was one of the
last opportunities he really had to showcase the beauty that came with the movement he
created. In just a matter of four decades, Monet as the driving force behind the entire
movement radically changed what conventional painting was known to be. The quick
brush strokes, the light radiating the entire painting almost as if from the inside out, and
the splashes of color and use of blending completely turned the traditional styles of nature
painting upside. To Monet, this painting was just another example of what light and color
two elements that he cherished the most could accomplish. This is a painting of
nature, and doesnt depict any specific scene or action; as a result, there doesnt seem to
be any deep symbolism hidden in the actual water lilies. However, symbolism can most
definitely be extracted by the colors that he uses. The light pastels create a sense of
airiness that comes with the peak of springtime, perhaps a mood that Monet was trying to
convey with this particular painting.
Like many Impressionist paintings, Water Lilies exemplifies strong use of light
and color; the light in this painting is used to illuminate the entire painting and seems to
come from above the lilies, unseen to the viewer. The reflection of the light is clear to see
in the top right hand corner of the painting, and the painting gets darker and darker as the
eyes drift towards the bottom. The angle that Monet uses gives off the impression that the
sunlight is hitting the body of water near the top of the painting and fades away as it gets
closer to the bottom. This modulation from bright to slightly dark is very meticulously
done, and the mixing of colors to create that blend from light blue to dark blue allows for
a flawless transition from light to dark. Because the changes are subtle yet present, one
gets a feeling of pleasant serenity when looking at the painting, as if it had the power to
transport the viewer into a season of springtime and flowers at full bloom. The colors that
Monet uses adds to this effect as well. The top of the painting uses light, almost
transparent pastel colors light blues, light pinks, and light greens, respectively. The
colors get darker towards the bottom, with the pastels turning into strong, faded blues and
rich pink shades juxtaposed alongside forest-y greens. The hues get more and more
intense as the painting reaches the bottom, but the pinks, greens, blues, and faint yellows
near the top are all very complementary to one another. This makes the painting very
aesthetically pleasing overall.
When compared to the other pieces on display at the Legion of Honor, Claude
Monets Water Lilies certainly stuck out. It wasnt just the crowd of people taking
pictures of it (or with it) or the fact that it took up such a large portion of the wall it was
the fact that this was a legitimate, one-of-a-kind Monet painting hanging before our very
eyes. It was everything that we had expected of Monet and more; the light and color
present in the work completely fit our idea of what Impressionist painting really was. It
was a fleeting moment in nature captured in time, captured so rapidly that one could see
the light attempting to escape, that the colors appeared to blur together because they
didnt have enough time to form into solid figures. What made the experience even more
amazing was that there werent any ropes or boundaries to hold off viewers; one could
physically walk up to just a few centimeters in front of the painting and examine every
brushstroke that Monet used with his very hands. That just made it all the more
fascinating for me, because as beautiful as the painting was, I couldnt help but imagine
Monet painting either en plein air or in his studio, his hands vigorously at work on his
canvas. This was certainly a highlight of my trip to the Legion of Honor, and definitely
lived up to all of my expectations about Monet and Impressionism as a whole.