Cultural Diversity

While visiting the Dayton Art Institute I was fortunate enough to find an original Oscar-

Claude Monet piece titled Waterlilies, which he had painted in 1903. Despite being one of his

most well-known pieces, any classic Monet includes a brilliance that is only ever captured during

observation when the painting is perceived from different angles and distances. It was not just

this masterpiece that caught my attention, but the artist himself. I discovered that Monet had

produced Waterlilies from the 1890s until his death in 1926, and had created hundreds of

different and unique variations from this water lily pond that had surrounded his property. They

are scattered worldwide in museums and private collections, including this one found at the

Dayton Art Institute. Monet’s work is easily identifiable by his use of a unique structure that

consists of vibrant colors intertwined throughout numerous layers in his paintings. Monet’s art

has an almost overwhelming use of color that I personally have loved since elementary art

classes.

The style of painting that Monet was well known for was called impressionism and was

unintentionally named after his piece titled Impression, soleil levant, or Impression, Sunrise.

Despite being a brief movement, it is also considered to be part of what is now called a modern

art movement and had included artists such as Monet and Renoir. Impressionism was created by

a small group of French artists who would often experiment with the use of light and color

changes of the same scenery. They would then produce multiple paintings, but at different times

throughout the days and seasons. During one of their galleries, a critic had scrutinized their

technique and use of unmixed colors calling their work an incomplete expression of an image.

Oscar-Claude Monet was born November 14, 1840 in Paris, but in 1845 his family had

relocated to Normandy. After his mother died when he was 17, he moved back to Paris to live
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with his aunt who had encouraged him to study and developed his eye for the arts that eventually

led him to a new approach on the use of color. The underappreciated art form was a compilation

of well-placed pecks of unmixed oil based paints to create an image. At the time, traditional era

paintings were less vibrant and would consist of a more realistic approach to the imagery using

meticulously mixed colors and broad smooth strokes. This brief new art movement branched

away from the realistic idea of imagery that had definitive hard lines and color ratios and allowed

the artists a more emotionally involved aspect of the changing world around them. A

personalized and emotional focus of art was generated from the perspectives of artists, and their

use of color changes produced from their settings that meshed everything together. A close

glimpse of these paintings showcases the unique texture that arises from the multiple coats of

paint, almost like layers of skin on a canvas. The little flecks of miscellaneous color sporadically

placed give no definition throughout the pieces until viewed from a distance, allowing everything

to blend and form the intended image.

Museums give an opportunity to put the philosophy of Aesthetics into use. When visiting

an art museum, there is an extravagant and almost somber beauty brought on by the centuries of

art that hang silently on its walls and adorn all of its corners. Artists give incredible displays of

their capabilities to twist and bend reality at will simply by the techniques used to develop their

work. The use of the artist’s medium can create a casual correlation between the realm of what is

real and what is not, based on the personal perspective of the onlooker and their own philosophy

of the piece. The Aesthetics of the impressionist movement in specific was the way that the artist

would use a variation of colors overlapping one another, layer after layer, creating the impression

of the image. The use of oil paints in these paintings also allowed for a more vibrant color

scheme throughout each layer of paint.

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The century in which impressionism developed concurred during possibly one of

Europe’s most questionable moments of what it meant to be a Christian, and their relationship

with God. Metaphysical and Ethical questions were arising as Nietzsche shared his philosophy

and his serious disdain towards what he called the hypocritical Christian, and religion alike.

Monet lived during this “uproar” of heresy while “Christians” were struggling to oppose the

despair wrought on by Nietzsche’s writings that were rattling men throughout Europe. Artists

like Monet took to expressing their darkened souls through the wonderful use of color and light

they developed on the world surrounding them.

Though Monet is not considered a philosopher, in my opinion, he can be categorized as a

metaphysical artist. He rose above considerably logical thought derived from previous

generation’s personal perspective on what was natural beauty, to create what was considered a

somewhat laughable controversy of the artwork itself. The realm of his technique during this

time was on a level that most artists could not fathom, and only few created. He achieved his

masterpieces through a development of color beyond the understanding of the normal human

eye. Monet was able to simply look past the objects in nature and envision a broad spectrum ray

of reflecting lights in his mind that collectively created his perspective on the world around him.

A reflection of madness could be considered by the use of Monet’s tedious techniques, but it

may have revolutionized color schemes used by artists today.