Art Review Monet

I chose to review a painting for my art review. I went to the Baltimore Museum of Art on October 1. I chose to focus on two pieces of art by Claude Monet in the Modern Art wing. The Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight effect with Smoke, 1903, and Charing Cross Bridge, Reflections on Thames, 1901. Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight effect with Smoke depicts a misty, blueish scene of a vague bridge in the background and billows of smoke rising over the peaceful water during what appears to be early morning or late evening. Charing Cross Bridge, Reflections on Thames depicts a similar scene. A bridge in the background and a small boat on the water in front of it. However, in this scene, the sun is brighter and reflecting off the water a lot. I chose these two pieces …show more content…
Both paintings had soft coloring. Waterloo Bridge had pastels blues, pinks and purples and Charing Cross Bridge had a slightly brighter color scheme of reds, yellow, blue and green, while still being very soft. The lighting in both paintings also stood out to me because Monet’s use of light was peaceful. Monet’s use of soft pastels in Waterloo Bridge gave the painting a soothing, almost sleepy, feeling. His color scheme in Charing Cross Bridge gave a feeling of serenity and happiness, through the calm purples and bright yellows. As I continued to look at them, the reflection of sunlight on the water, in both paintings, was very noticeable. The reflections seem to be important in both paintings. The reflections on the water were some of the only sources of light in the paintings. In addition, they were both near the center of the paintings so my eye was immediately drawn to look there. There was contrast as well in the sunlight reflections on the water and the dark shadows of the two bridges in both paintings. In addition, there was contrast in the use of color in both paintings. In Waterloo Bridge, there are deep purples in the background and then oranges and yellows on the water. In Charing Cross Bridge, the water is vibrant yellow, red, and green and then the rest of the painting is soft blues, purples and …show more content…
There was movement in Waterloo Bridge from the way the smoke over the water billowed up towards the left and then slowly dissipated. This contributed to the feeling of peace because the clouds of smoke are soft white in appearance and seem to be slowly drifting through the sky. In Charing Cross Bridge, there was movement in both the water and the boat traveling away from the foreground towards to the horizon. The boat does not appear to moving very fast and the water is still with only little waves, lending to the peaceful atmosphere of the painting. Monet was known for his impressionistic style of painting. In both of these painting, the brush strokes are short and visible but smoothly done. He left some of the colors unblended, letting the eye decide what the color is. Both of the backgrounds in these paintings are very vague and have blurry edges. Both of these impressionist techniques lend to the feeling of peace and softness because there are not sharp edges or harsh shapes. Everything is soft or