Instead of doing outdoor activities, I visited Monet in the art museum on this warm sunny day.

I am not sure when I started to like Monet. Maybe since Jack found one of Monet’s masterpieces in Rose’s room in the movie Titanic. I have to confess that I know little about paintings, let alone the techniques. However, I do love to enjoy Monet’s canvas. What impresses me most is the delightful color and light, and the tranquility depicted and conveyed by the great painter. There are about 60 paintings exhibited in the art museum and the exhibition was titled Monet in Normandy.

Monet was born in Paris, but he spent his childhood in the great port city of Normandy, in which nearly all of his later memories of early life was centered. It was, indeed, in Normandy that Monet was first developed as an artist. Normandy is where D-Day and the great allied invasion happened. Moreover, its picturesque landscape and seascape as well have drawn thousands of tourists and quite a few artists. Monet was not the first one to picture Normandy. However, he visualized and presented the same landscape differently with added modern motifs and lifelong enthusiasm to record this fabled part of France in its variety.

Needless to say, Monet is one of the greatest Impressionism painters, a visual poet of Normandy. To me, he is also a nature lover as well. The serenity and lucidity presented in his compositions bring me peace in mind. Now I’d like to show several of my favorites except his famous water-lily series in this exhibition. Hope you enjoy them too.

Garden at Sainte-Adresse

I love this painting simply for its color and broad view, which was considered daring at the time. Monet’s family displeased about his entanglements with his pregnant mistress. His father encouraged him to abandon the lady. Despite his inner turmoil, his canvas showed aggressively modernized organization, radiance of color, brilliant sunlight, casting shadow, and bright-red geranium. Look at the flags, most likely the soft breeze is tangible.

Road at La Cavee

The path wound its way between flower-flecked hills and, as one descended, offered enticing views of the sea in the distance. Would you like to be the one strolling easily along the path in a sunny day?

Wheat field:

Horizontal bands of cool green and blue envelop the warm stripe of golden, sunlit wheat that stretches across the canvas. Poplars punctuate the horizon line, and a curving path leads viewer’s eye toward the center of the canvas. The contrast color catches and pleases both my eyes and my mind. What if I lived there someday?

The cliff, Etreatat, Sunset:

The elephant-like cliff and the Needle are silhouetted against the streaked clouds and bold colors of the sunset sky. The water of the bay is gently agitated, so that the reflection of the rock formations and the clouds and the sky are rendered in broken. It reminds me of sunset cliff in San Diego except the elephant like cliff. The painting seems much more stunning to me.

Sea Coast at Trouville

A lone tree was bent by the constant assault of coastal wind. Like most of Monet's compositions, this one is lack of human presence, suggesting the love of the artist for nature. Does it also imply the solitude of the painter somewhat?

 Note: Some phrases and description were excerpted from the book "Monet in Normandy".