Painting by Claude Monet “Girls, floating in a boat on the river Ept” is devoted to the scene from the life of the great master, the time when he lived in Normandy with Alice, the second wife, and children. In the work and the name itself there is a river on the bank of which the provincial town of Normandy, Giverny, is located – the village in which the artist lived since 1983. This river Monet devoted a lot of work. They were one of the last in his work and personified the ebbing youth, the transition of maturity and the riot of the artist’s emotions to appease old age and change lifestyle.
About the picture itself, you can say the following. It is written in the customary impressionist technique and is replete with strokes. It does not have a saturation of small accents, and large patches of planes and main characters add up to a successful trio. Thanks to the scale of the oars and the density of the waves, it is possible to judge about the rapid flow of the river, about the stillness – on the monotony of the foliage and immobilized tissues. The tribute to the fashion of the second half of the XIX century – straw hats and simple silhouette of dresses were transferred by the artist boldly, with pure colors of white and ocher.
Despite the cold contrast of the plants, the picture turned out to be warm, both in the plot and in color. Interspersed with purple strokes in water ripples combines the carrot boat into a single palette with the rest of the colors, thereby not “cutting out” the vessel from the canvas. Although we can confidently say that the boat and the red oar are striking first. The bright paint of the tree speaks of the novelty of the vessel, conveying the smell of a freshly painted boat somewhere in the imagination.
The density of kraplak and coal soot tells about the evening time of day. Apparently, therefore, the author did not add a reflection of light, reflections in water from a floating pair and sun glare. Monet’s technique is surprising inconsistency. And here, greasy strokes are interspersed with thin smooth strokes, a smooth surface of oil and round heels of greenery. Diversified texture revives the picture. The difference in the direction of the strokes will hurt the movement of the plot. The frank purity of the palette betrays the courage of the author and his honesty towards himself, without breaking his own perception of reality.
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