Claude Monet, Still Life with Bottle, Carafe, Bread, and Wine, c. 1862/1863, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Title: Still Life with a Bottle, Carafe, Bread and Wine
Artist: Claude Monet (1840-1926)
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MONET? BEGIN A JOURNEY THROUGH HIS ARTISTIC WORLD
Did you know that Claude Monet began his career as a teenager and continued to create until his death at 86 in 1926? Most of us are familiar with Monet’s iconic Impressionist works. However Monet, like any great artist, expressed himself in multiple styles. So for the next month, experience the artistic world of the French master, from the young, aspiring painter to one of the most famous figures of his day.
So let’s start with an early still life, done when Monet was about 22. We don’t know exactly when he painted it, but Monet was likely attending the school of academic painter Charles Gleyre in Paris, where he met his future Impressionist colleagues Renoir and Sisley. At this point, Monet was taking what would be considered a more conventional and accepted approach to art at the time, depicting a scene of daily life in a realistic way, using a limited palette of colors.
Yet, what about the clarity and even brilliance of that light, particularly illuminating the bottle, carafe and glass? Do we already see the touch of genius?
NEXT: ENTER CAMILLE, MONET’S LOVE AND MODEL
In the public domain, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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