Mini Masters Project Script

Welcome to the Met Museum

Growing up

·            Born in Paris 1840

·            Grew up in Le Havre since he was 5

·            Father wanted him to be a grocery man like himself

·            Monet became well-known in his town for his caricatures at a young age

Monet's House in Giverny

National Service in Algeria

·            He wanted to experience the exotic culture and intense light

·            Algeria laid foundation for his later experiments in color and development in impressionism

·            Despite being sent there to fight, Monet still had time to sketch

Back to France

·            Continued to study painting

·            1868 Financial problems

·            Almost committed suicide (threw himself into the river Seine)

Franco-Prussian War

·            Moved to London

·            Did a few paintings of parliament, Thames river

·            Formed friendships with other French artists who also influenced his study of art

Discovered Giverny

·            Found Giverny while passing on a train

·            Decided to stay and rented a house

·            When earned enough money, designed his own garden, bought a house

·            Bridge over lily pond painting 1900s

·            His garden inspired him to do many of his paintings

·            At same time, France hosted the Olympics

·            Spent rest of his life in peaceful Giverny

·            Died of lung cancer 1926

And now we have the privilege of having one of Monet’s paintings!

Paintings

·            Drawn from the bridge in his garden

·            Originally planted his garden for the pleasure of it, not for painting

·            I was interested in his choice of colors and how well they blended together

·            A lot of colors are depicted in this particular painting

·            Shows dark shadows by the side, sunlight in the middle

·            Works include “Garden of the Princess”, “Path in the Forest”, “Morning on the Seine”

·            Most of them impressed a calm relaxed feeling

·            His subjects are usually of landscape/family

Impressionism

·            Small, thin, visible brush strokes

·            Emphasis on accurate depiction of light and its changing qualities

·            Unusual visual angles but ordinary subject matter

·            19^th century art movement

·            Term was said to be derived from one of Monet’s paintings, “Sunrise Impression”

Media

·            The texture looks like oil painting

·            Easier to blend

·            Creates the variety of colors he needed

Influences

·            Had a few artist friends/critics

·            A few encouraged him to work with light, others taught him to paint realist

·            Water lilies and Giverny helped him get over his misery during the First World War and deaths of his wives

Conclusion

·            I enjoyed learning about the artist, impressionism

·            Learnt a lot about Monet and his style of art

·            Developed my observation skills while imitating the painting

·            Difficult to reproduce his work

·            Had to focus on small details and make different colors and shades exactly as it was depicted

·            Satisfied with my work but I still think texture and shades of color are still bit different