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Tag Archives: Monet

In Monet’s Garden

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

MOMA, Monet, New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

There are times when I just want to escape from what I call “trauma porn”, that constant bombardment of the dark, angry words and images so prevalent at this moment in our society.  It’s everywhere and it must sell well. I know there is distress and war and hardship in the world.  And that should never be hidden. But the media feeds on it, and it seems like lately there is not a healthy balance with the more introspective, peaceful side of our society.  There has to be an equal emphasis on good and what is enriching rather than only a biased focus on terror, anger and turmoil. How else will we be able to find our own personal balance?

What better place to contemplate the good than Monet’s garden, even if it is only at the Museum of Modern Art on a cold February morning.

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I actually began working on a very different painting right before New Year’s. People often ask me how long a painting takes to complete.  Well, it all depends.

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I was trying to come to grips with a scene I had noticed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Four women were sitting sketching and it intrigued me.  What a positive way to spend a morning. I worked on it for over a month.

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But it just never came together the way I wanted it to.  I couldn’t seem to find what Alex Katz (one of my favorite artists) calls the “inside energy”. This piece was not going there. I finally decided it was time to erase it from the expensive linen and begin again.  And what better place to go than Monet’s gardens.

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These Monets are at MOMA in NYC.  After my trip there in early February, I was drawn to these two extraordinary paintings.  The museum curators had moved them to a different gallery since the last time I was there, and it was quieter and more removed from the crowds.

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I found these two women each transfixed by “Water Lilies” and “Agapanthus”.  A recurring theme of mine in this series of paintings is how art and museums bring us to a more positive, introspective state.  No bi-partisan arguing. No shrill media. As far as I can tell almost everyone finds peace and tranquility with a Monet. And if they want to explore a darker side, there are other galleries and paintings that focus on that.  It’s all so civilized in a museum.

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When I start a painting I am concerned with what the artist David Salle recently described in an article as an “alignment of intention, talent and form”. He suggests the art of painting on canvas has returned to importance, if it ever left.  And these three values are what create a masterful painting.

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I know Monet has this in his work.  But do I?  Can I?

I constantly strive for that interior energy in a painting.  And my subject (or intent) is often an interpretation of ourselves attempting those perfect moments of contemplation. I’ll leave the dark side for others to explore for now. Monet certainly helps.

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“In Monet’s Gardens”, oil on linen, 36″ x 24″, with thanks to MOMA and Monet.

Monet, Gallery Nine and MOMA

17 Saturday May 2014

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

MOMA, Monet

The gallery paintings I have been doing this spring all came from my trip to NYC in the depth of the February winter.  It was soooo cold.

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But when I entered the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art, everything was warm and cozy.  Just fine for a day of walking through the galleries and searching for that perfect moment.

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I have spent the last month or so working on a new painting that came from this trip to MOMA in February.

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Gallery 9 is always a crowd pleaser, and I love it too.

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It is not just the spectacular Monet’s in the room (Agapanthus on the back wall, and Water Lilies stretching the entire length of the room).

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It is like entering a sacred space…quiet and reflective.

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But, in addition, the floor to ceiling window at the end of the room with its shadowed view of a New York City Street just seems to accent the serenity of the gallery.

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The scene is stunning, and people enter with a reverence reserved for a very special place of contemplation and renewal.  It is hushed and dim in the room, no matter how many people drift along the edges, or finally settle on one of the long black benches to contemplate this tableaux.

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Always someone goes over to the window to stare out at the street.  But soon returns to see Monet’s masterpieces. I was going through some of my art books this afternoon as I often do when contemplating new work, and came across this image in one of my David Hockney books. It’s an early picture of his, but it reminded me in some ways of these paintings I have been working on this year of art and art lovers.

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In this piece I am working on now, I want the rhythm of the people moving through the room to be the dominant view, but the viewer to be very aware of a strong source of light coming from the outside world.

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It is interesting to me that there is the same intense meditation whether looking out the window, or staring into the drifts of paint on canvas. I checked that the figures read dominantly in gray tones.

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The strong diagonal of viewers brings you into the room to the various objects of interest and emphasizes the pattern of light and shadow on the floor, and on the two paintings.

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People react with awe to the beauty. This is Gallery 9, Adagio.

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