kate5kiwis: francais friday

kate5kiwis

“If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.” — Mitsugi Saotome

Friday, September 01, 2006

francais friday

When I was in my teens, there was a Claude Monet exhibition at our museum.
I was so wowed by the colour mixing, the way the light still seemed to shine out from his paintings. The whole romantic feel of it all. I'm sure we saw all his famous stuff, I just cannot remember. But what I do remember, is that *he painted what he saw*.. so in his later years, with failing eyesight, his paintings look a bit smudgy. That whole idea governed and inspired me when I was teaching classrooms full of kids to *do art*. Whether drawing or painting, first draw what you see. Not what you think you see. Tricky.

A little while after first seeing Monet live, my dahling Mum knitted me a funky jumper out of different colours of sunshiney pastel shades all created in random tiny horizontal stripes and we affectionately named it *my monet jumper*

Six weeks ago, in Paris, hubby and I got to see it all again.


I have such an attachment to the impressionist painters. Perhaps it's because I also have a love affair with the sunshine.. and you can *see* the sunlight here... all those yellows and reds and oranges. They make my soul sing.

Perhaps it's the impossible that Monet wished, becoming possible:
I want the unobtainable. Other artists paint a bridge, a house, a boat, and that's the end. They are finished. I want to paint the air which surrounds the bridge, the house, the boat, the beauty of the air in which these objects are located, and that is nothing short of impossible.

Monsieur Monet, I'm breathing your air...

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beautiful !
N.

9:37 AM  
Blogger Emily said...

Claude Monet is my favorite artist. Partly because he was the first one I learned about and mostly because I love his work...

12:40 PM  
Blogger Ms. Kathleen said...

Oh wow! I love Monet and Renoir, Degas and other impressionists artist. I love visiting my daughter and walking through the museums in DC and NYC. Paris sounds heavenly!

And you are so right, I do need to take it a lot easier. Thanks for caring :)

1:33 PM  
Blogger twinmomplusone said...

Another impressionist fan here! Saw so many of them over the years. We have quite a few reprodcutions around the house: Renoirs in the dining room, Monet in the halls, Berthe Morisot in the guest bedroom. Like you say, their work is all about the light and happiness it exhudes.

thanks for another great francais friday!

1:42 AM  

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