Deeply touched in Marmottan Monet

It was a thrilling experience in the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris.

In love with Monet was something long time ago and he was one of the first artist who ever grabbed my heart like he did to many one else. Soon after I learned art history, he went out of my attention and gave way to some older, more sophisticated artists. Even in the Orangerie last year, it was Renoir who caught my eyes instead of Monet. But this year, yesterday, I was totally blown away by Monet's wonderfully beautiful works in the Marmottan. 

In the temporary exhibition of the earlier works of Monet and other Impressionists, I was still talking to myself saying that there must be energy around the masters' works because I could feel my heart beating faster and my body trembling like electricity going through when I got closer to the great works. But as I approached the last piece of the exhibition, Monet's Hemerocalles au bord de l'eau (fig. 1), it was already not feelings as simple as that; it became a feeling of touching and thrill so immense that overwhelmed my whole body and heart that tears burst into my eyes. The big canvas, with its beautiful rich and translucent blue all over the place with different shades of the colour, interplaying with the lively strokes of various greens on the bottom, and with several glaring paints of red hemerocallis on the left and right. The whole colour scheme was so harmoniously arranged, with details sketchy but still clearly seen, and especially my eyes lingered on the reds for long - the paints are so prominent, thick and the colour so vivid that I could feel the strong sense of life within it as well as the presence of the painter himself through it. It reminded me of the similar vitality of Van Gogh, and maybe that is what makes them so wonderful and perpetual - the ever-pulsing vitality of life. Everyone stood still in front of the work and stared for long without leaving; it after all these years made me in love with Monet again. Turning my head around, I saw the sign 'Monet permanent collection' - I knew there might be a great more excitement waiting for me on another floor.

Fig. 1 Hemerocalles au bord de l'eau 1914-17

I walked down the stairs and as I reached the bottom, I glimpsed at the waterlilies hanging all around the room. I was so excited that I couldn't believe my eyes but meanwhile I didn't dare to see all of them all at once for fear of being over-excited. I walked to the beginning, the earlier pieces of Monet's works, and covered my eyes in order not to glance at the later part. Then I approached the manifesto piece: Impression, Sumrise (fig. 2). It was smaller than I thought, but was pretty much the same as I had seen it in reproductions everywhere else. It is sketchy, and after all, it was still just an early piece, though I felt very honoured to be able to have a look at it. Then the water lilies came into my sight. The earlier ones were misty, soft presentation of the pond and its surroundings (fig. 3) or the relatively clearer depiction of single, bigger waterlilies (fig. 4). It is at the turn of the century that he started to paint relatively small portion of the pond. 

Fig. 2  Impression, soleil levant 1872-73

Fig. 3 Bras de Seine près de Giverny, soleil levant 1897

Fig. 4 Nymphéas, effet du soir 1897

The ones that I love the most are those he painted in the middle of the time span during which he painted water lilies, roughly in 1900s and 10s - when he started to paint only a portion of the pond but still in a very delicate way, rather than the very sketchy or some of the furious ones made later as his eyesight deteriorated. These are the ones that really show his great aestheticism, the harmonious rendering of colour and light with wonderfully lively texture. My favourite piece in the permanent collection is Nymphéas of 1903 (fig. 5), a soft, delicate rendering. The whole colour scheme is delicate and harmonious. The rendering of the leaves are very lovely with only two or three brush strokes depicting one piece, lively and poetic; some even seem to be dancing. And again the little touches of a brilliant colour like yellow or red give the form of the flower and add to the great vitality of the work.

Fig. 5 Nymphéas 1903

Some later works of 1910s and 20s (fig. 5) are much more sketchy and unclear as the brush strokes became bigger and details less delicately rendered when Monet's eyesight got worse. Especially those long horizontal works like those in the Orangery are very roughly done. They are meant to be viewed from far away, however, they are also good to be observed closed-up, since as the canvas gets closer and bigger to you, you would feel like walking into the fantasy land of various blues of Monet, which gives you a full, embrasive feeling. There are also some of these later works that look even furious in colour and texture, with strong colour contrast and rough impasto, some even appearing inharmonious. It may either represent his state of mind, or simply one of his many experimental pieces as he tried to render the water lilies in all types of weather conditions and styles. However, some 1920s ones tend to be innovative in composition and style, some imitating Japanese design (fig. 6), some are arranged in a very abstract and decorative manner (fig. 7), and some representing flowers in different way which occupy a lot of the picture space (fig. 8).

Fig. 6 Les Roses 1925-26

Fig. 7 Glycines 1919-20

Fig. 8 Iris jaunes et mauve (not full canvas) 1924-25 

Some 1910s ones are very brilliant as they tend to have rougher texture than those made earlier in 1890s and 1900s, but still keep the harmony and delicacy. The impasto gives the feeling of life and the passion of the artist, in which you seem to feel the emotion and temper of the artist. Even though some ones (fig. 9, 10) go to a very extreme degree of roughness that it seem the painting is more about the texture than the thing represented. Though those ones are less appealing compared with some more harmonious work to me, but simply scrutinising the texture itself, you would feel that it tends to give you a real feeling of the texture of the plant - a rough surface, which reminds me so much of the works of Constable, who in the early 19th century already started to explore the potential of paint and whose impasto texture would glitter so beautifully in light as those would in Monet's painting. Talking about the surface texture, it reminds me of the comparison I always make between Renoir and Monet, two of my favourite Impressionistic painters. Both of them tried to render harmony and beauty, one through females, one through nature, but in very different way.s Renoir is sweet and very feminine, not only in the subject matter, but also in his style - the very soft, smooth, fluid, sugary quality of the colour and surface; whereas Monet's work always seems to me more masculine compared with Renoir's, with his rougher texture and brushworks, which appears to me a type of beauty more long-lasting. These differences in style must partly come from the differences in their character, for example, Renoir had a soft heart who always appreciated and wanted to represent the beautiful, sweet aspects of life. The Hemerocalles au bord de l'eau (fig. 1) by Monet upstairs is such a wonderful, wonderful 1910s piece of him. These harmonious, delicate 1910 ones with thinner, clearer brushworks, but relatively rougher texture than, say, Nymphéas of 1903 (fig. 4), tend to be my most favourite among all, which are not all presented here in the Marmottan. 

Fig. 9 Le Pont japonais

Fig. 10 Saule pleureur (not full canvas) 1918-19

I was surrounded and overwhelmed by the dreamed beauty as well as the emotion of Monet. It was already not simply a little shiver or heartbeat that I had felt upstairs, it was a deep touch and thrill of my heart. I finished the collection with tears holding in my eyes from the beginning to the end. It seems that the modern painting, with more freedom to paint in a more personal, abstract and poetic way, are usually much more emotionally charged. Through the beauty and harmony of Monet's painting, what we feel is not only the shock of beauty, but also the charge of emotion, which echoes with the emotion it ignites in our heart. No words, no way could I express the strong feeling that I had during my visit in Marmottan, what I could only did was to close my eyes and give my deepest honour and respect to the marvelous artist. It was this feeling that I would never forget and it was these touching moments that I would forever keep with me wherever I go deep down in my heart.