Musée d'Orsay for Kids (108) Monet: Two Harbor Paintings / Painting Two Harbors for the First Impressionist Exhibition
Capturing the |time| of the |harbor|
The |ships| are |leaving|.
At this |time|, Monet was |watching| the |ships| in the |harbor|, the |sky|, and the |people| who had come to |see them off| from his apartment |window|. The |pale purple| |sky| and the |blue-gray| |sea| were just beginning to show the first |sun| of the |morning|.
Who is in the |harbor|?
The |reddish-brown| |earth| is |shining| |white| in the |morning| |light|, and there is a |gentleman| with a |cane| and a top hat, as well as a |lady| with her |children|.
Aren't the |triangular| |sails| of the yachts all sharp and strong, and about the same |height| as those |buildings| on the |seashore|?
Monet |painted| the |moment| when the |early morning| |sun| peeking out from the |clouds| dyed both the yachts and the |sea| pink.
|Blue|, |gray|, |pink|, and |brown|.
With |thin| and |light| |brushstrokes|, and sometimes |fine| and |thick| ones, Monet |hurriedly| |moved| his |brush|.
Another |morning| on a |different day|.
The Monet |painting| everyone knows well: |Sunrise| over the |industrial area| of the |harbor|
Monet |exhibited| these two |harbor| |paintings| at the |First Impressionist Exhibition|.
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Le Havre, fishing boats leaving the port 1874
Collection Michael G. Herman
First Impressionist Exhibition, 1874, no. 96
Claude Monet
Le Havre, Fishing Boats Leaving the Port 1874
Michael G. Herman Collection, First Impressionist Exhibition 1874, No. 96
Born in Paris, Monet spent his childhood and teenage years in Le Havre, Normandy. Between 1872 and 1874, Monet visited this place many times and painted more than 10 landscapes. This harbor, one of the largest in the world, was a familiar place to Monet, partly because his father was involved in international trade. In the early morning, under a hazy gray light, fishing boats leave the outer harbor lined with old buildings.
At the 1874 exhibition, this poetic seascape by Monet contrasted with another of the painter's more radical works featuring the harbor of Le Havre with factories in the background, 'Impression, Sunrise'.
Claude Monet
Impression, soleil levant 1872
Paris, musée Marmottan Monet
First Impressionist Exhibition, 1874, no. 98
Claude Monet
Impression, Sunrise 1872
Musée Marmottan, First Impressionist Exhibition 1874, no. 98
Thank you for reading.
How did you like the lesser-known painting of the harbor with fishing boats that we introduced this time, out of the two paintings of the port of Le Havre exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition? Monet painted it by capturing the atmosphere surrounding the fishing boats about to set sail and that changing moment of the early morning.
We will also cover the famous sunrise you know well at another time.
The stylish (large) hat of the lady that stood out at the Musée d'Orsay Impressionist 150th Anniversary Exhibition is also uniquely Parisian.
