【Impressionist Painting】Monet: Pond, Snow Effect

**Large size can only be delivered.** ＊The mounting process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Orders may take 2-3 weeks to be processed. Please be patient. Artist: Monet Claude Monet (1840-1926) is one of the representative painters of French Impressionism. He was one of the most influential painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works show a deep understanding and mastery of color and light and shadow effects, as well as sensitivity and creativity to natural landscapes. Monet's works are based on outdoor landscapes, especially his waterscapes in the Gabriel Coast and Giverny Gardens. He constantly observed the changes in light and color in natural scenery, and used colorful blocks of color and delicate brushstrokes to depict the beauty and changes of nature. His pursuit of light and color has become one of the representative characteristics of Impressionist art. Monet traveled to different times and places, and inspired by his travel experiences, he created many famous works, such as "Water Lilies" and "Maize", etc. His works were highly praised by many artists at the time, and became classics in the history of art in later times, which had a profound impact on the development of art in later generations. In general, Monet is one of the representative figures among French Impressionist painters. His works are based on the changes of colors and natural scenery, showing a deep understanding and feeling of nature, and have an important influence on the development of art history. Title of the work: Pond, snow effect Output photo paper: Art micro-spray snow surface art photo paper Size of the work: 80 x 60 cm *If you need other sizes or other mounting methods, please send a private message to discuss Original dimensions: 23 7⁄8 x 32 1⁄8 in. (60.6 x 81.7 cm.) Year of creation: Painted in Norway in 1874-1875 https://canvypro.blob.core.windows.net/thumbs/00541fcea76e49609d849b8013d4fa9a.jpg Claude Monet painted La mare, effet de neige in Argenteuil during the winter of 1874-1875. The artist had lived with his family in this suburb of Paris since December 1871. The painting depicts a field covered with a thin layer of snow. The field is surrounded by a number of modest houses, whose roofs are also covered in snow. Three silhouetted figures are walking across the field between bare trees. Monet used various shades of blue and white to create this charming snowy scene, which shimmers in the sunlight. According to Daniel Wildenstein, Monet observed the scene from the edge of the Bichère Stream, a tributary of the Seine that connects Argenteuil to the French capital. La mare, effet de neige shows Monet’s experimentation with the Impressionist style during the mid-1870s. During this critical period, the artist used increasingly loose brushstrokes and thick textures to represent the fleeting atmospheric effects of nature. Despite the cold weather, Monet continued to observe the world around him during the unusually snowy winter of 1874-1875. In other works created during that season, Monet depicted snow in various forms at Argenteuil, from softly falling (Wildenstein No. 348; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) to heavy snowfall (Wildenstein No. 356; Musee Monet, Paris). In this work, Monet covers the canvas with short, dense brushstrokes, representing clumps of fresh white snow that have begun to melt in the glaring sunlight; blue lines outline the long shadows cast by the figures and trees. La mare, effet de neige was sold at an auction held a few months later at the Hôtel de Roy in Paris. Monet, along with fellow Impressionists Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley, organized the sale after the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 received negative reviews. At the sale, Paul Durand-Ruel, an Impressionist gallery owner and supporter, purchased eighteen of the seventy-three works, including La mare, effet de neige. By 1893, the work had entered the collection of Henry Weaver, one of the most important French jewelry designers of the late 19th century and a significant collector of Japanese prints and Impressionist paintings. La mare, effet de neige was first exhibited publicly four years after its completion, at the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition, from April 10 to May 11, 1879. Initially, Monet was reluctant to participate in the exhibition, which Edgar Degas named "4e exposition faite par un Groupe d'artistes Indépendants." Monet's wife Camille gave birth to their second son, Michel, in March 1878, but her health never fully recovered. Along with their close friends Ernest and Alice Oshead, the Monet family moved from Argenteuil to Vétheuil, a rural town 60 km northwest of Paris. Deeply concerned about Camille's condition and anxious about his financial situation, the artist expressed to several of his peers his need to sell paintings to support his family. Monet's reluctance to loan works to the exhibition revealed a lack of confidence in his recent work, as well as a profound sensitivity to negative reviews from previous exhibitions. As the artist wrote to his friend and patron Dr. George de Berio in March 1879: "I have given up the struggle and all hope; I have no strength left to work under the circumstances. I hear that my friends are preparing a new exhibition this year; I refuse to take part in it, as I have done nothing worthy of showing" (quoted from R. Pickvance, "Contemporary Popularity and Posthumous Neglect," The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874-1886, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1986, p. 246). In organizing the 1879 exhibition, Gustave Kelbert—one of the youngest and wealthiest members of the Impressionist group—tried to persuade Monet to participate. Monet was widely regarded by critics and supporters as one of the most important members of the new avant-garde group; for Kelbert, Monet's participation in the exhibition was an important endorsement and a harbinger of the exhibition's success. Of the core Impressionist painters, only Kelbert, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and the newcomer Paul Gauguin agreed to participate. Instead, Renoir decided to submit his work to the official Salon, while Sisley, Paul Cézanne, and Berthe Morisot declined to participate for various reasons. Kelbert assured Monet that he would assist him in collecting works for the exhibition, promising to contact Monet's patrons and persuade them to lend their works to the exhibition; he wrote: "Try not to discourage yourself. Since you are not working, come to Paris, you have time to collect all the paintings you can... I will take care of everything" (quoted from the book above, pp. 247-248). By the end of March, Monet succumbed to Kelbert's persuasion; he admitted to the collector and pastry chef Eugene Muller: "It was only because I didn't want to be considered lazy that I compromised" (quoted from the book above, page 248). Monet ultimately exhibited 29 paintings in the "4e exposition faite par un Groupe d'artistes independents", which were gathered mainly from private collections by Kelbert. The works represent the full range of Monet's mature work, including four works executed in Argenteuil in 1875. Three of them are winter landscapes, including La mare, effet de neige, which was then owned by Durand-Ruel. Monet's works are hung in the fifth and final room of the exhibition, alongside twenty-two paintings by Pissarro and a series of works on paper. Henri Ward described this as the climax of the exhibition in Le Siècle in April 1879: "The last room belongs to the masters of Impressionism. Monet and Pissarro reign there like masters." However, Ward went on to express his inadequate understanding of nature by the Impressionists: "I humbly admit that I do not see nature as they do, have never seen those pink cotton-candy skies, those opaque and mottled waters, those multicolored leaves. Perhaps they do exist. I do not know them" (quoted from the aforementioned book, p. 286). The fourth Impressionist exhibition, unlike its predecessors, was held in a modern apartment on the first floor of 28 Avenue de l’Opera in Paris. This broad new avenue, which ran from the Louvre to the Opera, was part of Baron Haussmann’s reimagining of Paris; construction of this central thoroughfare was completed only two years before 1877. Some scholars, such as art historian Ronald Pickevens, have found evidence that the new building that housed the exhibition was equipped with electric lighting—a revolutionary new technology and means of viewing art in the famous City of Lights (op. cit., p. 263, note 39). Although Monet was well represented at the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition and his works received important placements, the "master of Impressionism" never visited Paris during the exhibition. At the close of the exhibition, Kelbert wrote to Monet praising the success of the exhibition, noting that more than 15,400 visitors attended the exhibition - a significant increase from the 4,000 visitors who attended the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Kelbert also gave Monet at least thirty press clippings with the following note: "I regret that you could not see the exhibition up close. But for painters and the public, despite the malice of the press, we have achieved a lot. Manet himself is beginning to realize that he has been on the wrong path. So be brave!" (quoted from the book above, p. 261). Despite Kelbert's comments about the press, Monet received high praise from several art critics. His most enthusiastic supporter was undoubtedly Edmond Renoir, the brother of Monet's former comrade Pierre-Auguste, who wrote in La Presse: "Claude Monet submitted some thirty paintings to the Impressionist exhibitions. This artist was by no means an unknown. He had exhibited fairly regularly since 1866, and the official Salon had accepted his work on several occasions... He had found his way, that of landscapes, especially of watersides. Whether seaside or riverside, he rendered their scenery and poetry in a sweet, charming, and tonally intense manner that undoubtedly places him among the leading painters of the modern landscape school" (quoted from the aforementioned book, page 286). In the early 1930s, the work belonged to Richard Semmel (1875-1950), a German textile manufacturer who lived in Berlin with his wife Clara (née Brück, 1879-1945). After the Nazi government came to power in 1933, Semmel came under increasing pressure due to his Jewish background and involvement in the Deutsche Demokratische Partei (German Democratic Party). The Semmels soon fled Germany, moving first to Amsterdam. Their art collection, which included a number of important Impressionist and Old Master paintings, was sold at two auctions in June and November 1933 at Frederik Muller & Cie, but with mixed results. Their villa in Berlin-Dahlem was forced to be sold in their absence in 1934, and Richard's businesses in Germany were hit with punitive measures. Fearing the occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, the Semmels fled again, this time moving to New York, where they lived from 1941. The painting was later acquired by Philippe Leary and remained in the family collection for about seventy years. **Basic full-page mounting instructions: Seven aluminum frames are available** ＊Basic mounting/bare mounting. It means there is no Acrylic protection. https://image-cdn-flare.qdm.cloud/q665027dd6a3a4/image/data/2023/07/11/4b853563c2267abe4f46e392cf820e6b.jpg https://image-cdn-flare.qdm.cloud/q665027dd6a3a4/image/data/2023/11/24/2cc6b1cb3c7d678323915c04e8c9505b.jpg **Aluminum frame back details:** https://image-cdn-flare.qdm.cloud/q665027dd6a3a4/image/data/2022/04/12/c6d34fbc231337ab8da27935ab4f31db.jpg