Impressionism: Heidi Yu talks on Monet's "The Manneporte (Étretat)", 1883

The Manneporte (Étretat)

Introduction

The Manneporte (Étretat) is a fabulous painting painted by Claude Monet (1840–1926) in 1883. The dimensions of this painting is 65.4 x 81.3 cm and the medium of it is oil on canvas. And it is located at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. According to different features, this painting is one of the works of the Impressionism. In this essay, there will be fall into several parts. Firstly, the historical information of Impressionism and the reason of how the work fits into Impressionism would be mentioned. Then it will move to the analysis of the paint. Last but not least, there would be some reflection on this painting.

Historical background

  In the 19th century, scientists found that the sunlight contains seven colors in which red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This impressed some painters that the color of an item is affected by light. In the meantime, photography was being more general. Painting was facing a big challenge because it started losing the function of recording things.[1] Therefore, some painters turned to concern with the changes in light and color. These features led to the development of the Impressionism.

  In order to study the color and light, Monet painted serval series of paintings in a single object under different weather or light conditions. [2]

How the work fits into Impressionism

  “…the more I go on, the more I see that a lot of work has to be done in order to render what I seek: “instantaneity”…”[3]

----Letter from Monet to Geffroy, 21^st July, 1890

  Monet was seeking for “instantaneity” all the time, including the time that was painting The Manneporte (Étretat). Although the weather of Étretat was inclement, there were still a series of the landscape in Étretat during 1882-1885. Monet did lots of painting outdoors and it was different when it compares to the Academic artists.[4]

  One of the Feature of Impressionism is the painting having visible brushstrokes. In this painting, it is totally different with the previous period. There are thick brushstrokes that describe the motion of the choppy waters and the texture of arched door. There were some negative comments that the paints and works of Impressionism are rough and unfinished. But the purpose of the Impressionists is not painted the object as the real object. They were not depicted the object as photographing. And the brushstrokes were shaping the object actually.

  Moreover, the Impressionists were concerned with the natural properties of light. They studied in light and color caused by weather conditions, and Monet try to get the changes of light. In their world, there was not any absolutely white or black. The color that they used to depict depends on the weather and the time of the painting. In the painting, the sunlight shining on the rock surface creates the contrast of light and dark, and the colors expresses the texture of the rock. Instead of just using the light of white color, several of colors were used to show the texture of the rock surface. For example, using the orange, yellow and gold to show the sunlight shining on the rock.

  Different from other periods and styles, the Japanese Wood Block Prints influenced Impressionists a lot. In the 19th century, there were dealings between Europe and the East countries. Therefore, the Eastern arts and cultures started to spread in the Western world. [5]Influenced by Japanese Wood Block Prints, The Manneporte (Étretat) is in cut-off compositions. Monet draws a partly asymmetric arched door, we can only see the right side of the arched door, and the left side of it is cut away. The arched door can broaden to the outside of the picture, but Monet decided to depict a part of the object only.

Analysis

  Apart from how The Manneporte (Étretat) fits into the Impressionism, here are some particular elements of this painting would be mentioned.

  Firstly, there are some special color tone different from the previous periods and styles. On the bottom of this painting, the dark color show the power of the ocean. But Monet did not using only black to express the dark. He used the brown, dark green and dark yellow so forth. There are also some light brushstrokes in which using the light blue and white to show the spray. Not like the painting depicted by those Academic artists, Monet brought a vibrant brightness to his works by using unmediated colors. He tried to use pure color instead of the mixed color in this picture. Our eyes can mix the color ourselves, it brings about the colors look much more freshly.

  Moreover, there are the contrast between human and nature in this picture. Actually, there are two little figures in the painting. “There are tiny figures below the archway in the picture of The Manneporte (Étretat), witness to the bright sunlight on eroded limestone and to the crashing waves – forces of nature that craved out the grate gap in the ponderous hulk. Yet their experiences are vicarious: they are temporary visitors who always concentrate on unusual formations, desirable because they were ‘picturesque’.”[6] Comparing with the ocean with great momentum, human seems to be very fragile.

Conclusion

To conclude, The Manneporte (Étretat) is a painting that fits the Impressionism style and have different elements. But is there any special elements in the picture? What do people think about the figures below the arched door?

References

Sumner, Ann (2005). Colour and Light: Fifty Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Works at the National Museum of Wales. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.

Laurie Schneider-Adams (2002). Vol II of Art Across Time. 2nd edition. Boston: McGraw Hill College.

S.WEBB & SON (Distributors) LTD. (2003). The Pocket Encyclopedia of Impressionists.

JAMES H. RUBIN (1999). Impressionism Art and Ideas. Phaidon.

The Collection Online - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-nline/search/438823?=&imgno=0&tabname=label

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[1] Sumner, Ann (2005). Colour and Light: Fifty Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Works at the National Museum of Wales. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.

[2] Laurie Schneider-Adams (2002). Vol II of Art Across Time. 2nd edition. Boston: McGraw Hill College.

[3] S.WEBB & SON (Distributors) LTD. (2003). The Pocket Encyclopedia of Impressionists.

[4] Laurie Schneider-Adams (2002). Vol II of Art Across Time. 2nd edition. Boston: McGraw Hill College.

[5] Laurie Schneider-Adams (2002). Vol II of Art Across Time. 2nd edition. Boston: McGraw Hill College.

[6] JAMES H. RUBIN (1999). Impressionism Art and Ideas. Phaidon.