In 1985, when Claude Monet had become one of the most sought-after artists, three gunmen entered the Marmottan Museum and stole the masterpiece. When loaned to the Mulhouse Museum, the artwork was insured for… 50 million francs! It was not until the 1950s that well-known art historians, including the American John Rewald, pointed out the artwork’s founding role. ‘Impression, sunrise’ sat protected in the Château de Chambord during the war, waiting in the shadows. Deemed too ground-breaking, the artwork was ignored. They decided to gift it to the Marmottan Museum in 1940, which was owned by the Académie des Beaux-Arts. The price highlighted the indifference towards it at the time! Georges Bellio, benefactor of impressionists and new owner of the painting, bequeathed it to his daughter Victorine and his son-in-law Eugène Donop de Monchy. The artwork was resold four years later, through Drouot during a court auction of the Hoschedé collection, for the modest sum of 210 francs. In May 1874, the daring ‘Impression, sunrise’ was purchased for 800 francs by collector Ernest Hoschedé. ” Louis Leroy lambasted more generally what he ironically christened “the exhibition of impressionists”, little imagining that half a century later the movement – whose reputation he incidentally established – would generate such international enthusiasm! I thought to myself, this has made an impression on me so there must be impressions somewhere in there. In his article dated 25 April, the journalist held nothing back: “An impression, I’m sure. Its most vociferous critic, Louis Leroy, mocked this seascape with its sketch-like style that flouted the rules of academic painting. Did you know that the topographical, iconographical, meteorological and astrological studies undertaken by University of Texas astronomer and physics professor Donald Olson have enabled this painting to be extremely precisely dated? It was at 7.35 am on 13 November 1872, thirty minutes before dawn, that the artist created his masterpiece in one sitting…Įxhibited two years later, on 15 April 1874, in photographer Nadar’s former studio, the painting caused outrage. From a room at the Amirauté Hotel located at 41-45 Grand-Quai, Claude Monet captured Le Havre’s outer harbour in the dawn fog… The exact date of this painting, with its clearly defined pure orange sun and distilled light reflections in the water, has long been debated. Pyramidal composition to divide protagonists.Claude Monet, ‘Impression, sunrise’ (1872). Muted colors show world stripped of light. Creates empathy for the loss and pain of warfare. Response to German arial bombing of Guernica- first blitzkrieg. Oil on canvas.Museo Nacional Centre de Arte Reine Sofia, Madrid. Crops subject and uses sharp focus close up to depict weariness of poverty. Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, California.Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory, 1931.René Magritte, La condition humaine (or The Human Condition), 1933.Studies show extreme amount of reduction to essence of brothel Brutalization of body shows radical break from traditional composition. Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907.Mind and vision of the modern angst of the human being. Chose colors based on his own feelings and not those presented before him. Voyeuristic view point lends to immediacy and spontaneity Exaggerated sense of 3D with flat 2D feel at front. Explores physicality of dancers through postures and movements. Ballet demonstrates classical beauty and modernism. Captures behind the scenes, explores posture and gesture. Notion of immediacy- one moment, one perceived instant. Painted in quick manner to capture elusive beauty of sunrise, short and choppy brush strokes illustrate light of sun on ocean.
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