Claude Monet is a legendary figure in the history of world art and painting in particular. It is with him that impressionism begins, he is the Alpha and Omega of this movement, a revolutionary and simply a dreamer admiring the beauty.
Each new trend in art at its source faced many obstacles and difficulties, impressionism was by no means an exception and suffered the fate of any revolutionary approach, namely merciless criticism and rejection. After all, for academic painting, dominating at that time, this kind of image was not only alien, it broke any idea of a correctly constructed composition, color solutions and implementation artistic images at all. Academism was excessively limited in its actions and focused exclusively on the canons, forgetting, at times, about the true purpose of art - to be the result of inspiration. There was no question of any flight of thought, everything had to be strictly measured, calculated and necessarily correspond to clearly delineated rules.
The history of impressionism, one might say officially, begins with an exhibition in the studio of the photographer Nadar, which lasted from April 15 to May 15, 1874, i.e. exactly a month. In total, it was presented, not a lot, not a little - 30 artists and 165 works, including one of Monet's paintings, namely the canvas “Impression. Rising Sun". On the original French the name sounds like "Impression, soleil levant". I think that many already feel where the logic of the conversation is heading, because yes, everyone who guessed can rejoice, the name of the entire European movement comes from the name of the painting by Monet. A journalist named Louis Leroy, until then little known, in his devastating critical article in the magazine "Le Charivari", in order to show his disdain for their work, he called a group of artists "Impressionists", referring to famous painting. And those, to spite all the critics, decided to call themselves this term themselves, so that others would not be even more so. So, over time, the negative plaque was erased, but the name remained. Another example, when a small case created a sonorous name.
"Impression. Rising Sun"
Truly, as if “impression” is precisely what defines art in general. Influence and inspiration are those elusive substances that are not subject to categories and definitions, their life cycle lasts one instant, a millisecond, but the trace that they make for this short-term existence remains for centuries.
Certainly, there were artists who preceded this impressionable movement. It is believed that the work of such masters as El Greco, Velazquez and Goya influenced the work of Monet and Renoir. Significantly influenced the development of impressionism and English painters - Constable, Bonington and Turner. And undoubtedly, as the most bright representative emotional painting romanticism - Eugene Delacroix became one of the inspirers of this movement, which, by the way, was noted by one of the journalists, Jules Laforgue, in the Revue Blanche magazine in 1896:
“Vibration on the canvases of the Impressionists, achieved due to quivering iridescent strokes, is an amazing find, prompted by him by Delacroix, who, being obsessed with the idea of conveying movement, in the impassive frenzy of romanticism was not satisfied with fast movements and rich colors, but laid vibrating strokes.”
One of important events, which influenced the development of creativity of the newly appeared trend, was the exhibition Japanese prints in Paris in 1854. The works of Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige inspired Monet to create a whole series of paintings depicting a Japanese bridge. In general, the Impressionists will have a certain reverent attitude towards nature and its depiction, which is definitely a reflection of the sacralization of natural forces in Japanese engraving traditions.
Japanese bridge. Pond with water lilies»
"Water lilies"
The philosophy of Impressionism, so to speak, was not to limit yourself to the limits. Their goal was not to delve into the dense depths of images, symbols and ideas, but rather to show the beauty of everyday life, to unravel the elusive mood of what is happening in this moment. Impressionism is what lies on the surface, a light everyday veil, but far from flabby life.
"Carpe diem" - Claude Monet tells us from his paintings. “Live in the present,” we tell you, impressed by the work of the Impressionists.
Claude Monet. Impression. Sunrise. November 13, 1872 7:35 a.m. Mormatten Monet Museum, Paris
If you love, you must know the picture, thanks to which this direction in painting got its name. This is the painting “Impression. Sunrise”, which depicts the port of the city of Le Havre (France).
Of course, even before Monet, the technique of impressionism was found on the canvases of other artists. For example, I drew my own in this technique. However, it got its name precisely because of Monet's painting “Impression”.
An exhibition that entered forever into the history of painting
Claude Monet exhibited this painting along with other artists (,,, etc.) at an exhibition organized by him in 1874.
The pictures did not fit so well into the ideas of classical painting from the public of the 19th century that she sarcastically noted that “in a sketch for room wallpapers, there is even more completeness than in this seascape” or “now they write as they see: they don’t even prepare canvases.” In general, it was the usual negative reaction of people to something completely new and non-standard.
At the same exhibition, Monet showed his famous painting Boulevard des Capucines. Read about it in the article.
Journalist Louis Leroy, writing a sarcastic review of the exhibition, called the artists presented at it "impressions" just by the name of Monet's painting "Impression". In French, "impression" is impression. So in Russian the name was fixed in a foreign manner - the Impressionists.
At that time, such a comparison seemed funny and memorable to the public - it was fixed for a similar technique in painting.
Mysterious creation date
Now back to 2 years ago, when Monet painted this picture. I noticed that on the Internet, most sources indicate the date of the painting “1872-1873.” Although Monet put the date “1872” on the painting itself. (see in the lower left corner on a fragment of the picture). 
Claude Monet. Impression. Sunrise. Fragment. 1872 Mormatten Monet Museum, Paris.
I could not understand why they add another year? After all, the artist knows better when he created his creation!
Turns out, long years art historians believed that Monet was somewhat out of his mind, putting the wrong date on the picture - after all, it was documented that he was in the port of Le Havre (France) in 1873.
And only in 2014, physics professor Donald Olson proved that the picture was painted after all in 1872, as Monet pointed out.
Moreover, Olson was able to determine the date and even the time of painting to the nearest minute by analyzing the position of the sun, the possibility of large sailboats entering the port only at high tide, the direction of the wind (by smoke) and weather data (fog) of that time.
The birth of a new technique in painting
Olson's research seems to me very appropriate - after all, time plays a much more important role for the impressionists. Before them, pictures were painted in studios, not one day or even one month.
So, for comparison, he painted a picture for one year. And here we know for sure that Monet started painting at 7.35 and finished it in 10 minutes!
He painted in quick, broad strokes, from nature, through the open window of his hotel room. He hurried to sketch out his fleeting impression of what he saw, until the sun rose higher and the natural light played differently.
So we see the fog, the sun, the shades of the water and the sky exactly as they were on November 13, 1872 at 7:35.
Monet later admitted that that morning he thought he was painting another painting that no one would buy. Could he then imagine that his painting in 100 years would cost several tens of millions of dollars? I think if I had known, it would not have turned out like this.
Port of Le Havre by Monet
Monet then painted the port of Le Havre more than once. Most of these works are in private collections. I found only two paintings that can be seen by everyone in museums (“Museum in Le Havre” and “View of the old harbor in Le Havre”). 
Claude Monet. Port in Le Havre. Night effect. 1873 Private collection. 
Claude Monet. Museum in Le Havre. 1873 London National Gallery. 
Claude Monet. View of the old harbor at Le Havre. 1874 Art Museum Philadelphia 
Claude Monet. Boats in the port of Le Havre. 1882-1883 Private collection.
This morning view of the harbor of Le Havre, written from the window of the hotel, Monet accidentally called “Impression. Sunrise", simply because he thought he could not call it "landscape". History did the rest.
Monet was born in Paris to a grocer's family but grew up in Le Havre in northwest France. Monet learned quick drawing on the plein air with two great artists and admirers of the Normandy coast - Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) and Jan Barthold Jongkind (1819-1892). Marine watercolors William Turner (1775-1851) and Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) shaped Claude Monet's new vision of air, sky and sea in the landscape. Claude Monet is still one of the most famous artists in the world.
This is a small text about the history of creation and the difficult fate famous painting"Impression, soleil levant" (Impression. Sunrise), which gave the name to "Impressionism" - whole era in world art. A few years ago I was lucky enough to see the original at the Musée Marmottan Monet. The lasting and deep impression of the picture has stood the test of time and I decided to make this review.
From the biography of Claude Monet - sailor Eugene Boudin
Monet met Boudin in 1856 while graduating from the municipal school in Le Havre. Claude, disgusted by the teaching methods, bored out of boredom by drawing sketches of his teachers and classmates in the margins of a student's notebook. Monet's cartoons interested the bookseller Gravier and he exhibited them in the windows of his bookshop.
But one day, Claude saw someone else's work in the window next to his cartoons. “I was offended to the depths of my soul and did not regret cursing the idiot who imagined himself an artist, who had the audacity to put his signature under the paintings,” writes Monet.
“An idiot who imagines himself an artist,” turned out to be a thirty-three-year-old sailor who had just parted from the sea to paint the sea - lanky, round-shouldered, with a leisurely waddle. His name was Eugene Boudin. Camille Corot called Boudin - King of the Skies ("king of heaven") for his naturalistic accuracy in the transmission of heavenly light through the atmosphere and the smoothness of his chromatic highlights.
Eugene Boudin - The Port of Le Havre at Sunset
Boudin invited the teenager to paint together - it is known that Monet rejected the first offer. But one day he put aside his incredulity and agreed. This happened at the very beginning of 1858. It was then that Monet acquired his first box of paints and, in company with Boudin, went to the village of Ruelle, located northeast of Le Havre. Choosing especially beautiful view, Boudin put the easel. Monet experienced something like a revelation. “It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes,” he later said. - I suddenly understood, at once comprehended what painting can be. Yes, if I became an artist, it was only thanks to Eugene Boudin!”
In complete amazement, he watched the work of a senior comrade. Work? No, it was more like a battle, a duel, a hand-to-hand fight with an unpredictable nature. The English Channel coast is a special place, here the sea and the sky change their appearance every minute. But, despite this, Eugene Boudin somehow managed to subdue the clouds to his will. He tamed them, he ruled over them, he loved them and caressed them as one caresses a beloved.
Eugene Boudin - Port of Le Havre in the evening Lord God, Buden, you are just a celestial! - once exclaimed an artist who came to work on the Normandy coast. - Who else on earth knows the sky so well!
Eugene Louis Boudin - The Commerce Basin of Le Havre And Claude Monet painted his first painting - "View from the village of Ruel." It was completely small canvas, which Boudin during the municipal exhibition held in Le Havre in September 1858, forced the organizers to hang in the most prominent place. From now on, say goodbye to pencil or pen drawings! Long live brushes, canvases, color, clouds, sun and sea!
How far is this work from a true Impression!
Claude Monet - View of Ruelle-le-Havre, 1858 From the biography of Claude Monet - Dutchman Jan Jongkind
In 1862, during his convalescence after serving in the army, Monet met another artist in Le Havre, the Dutchman Jan Barthold Jonkind, a friend of Boudin. “He wanted to see my sketches and invited me to work with him, explaining what and why is in his paintings, thus supplementing the lessons of Boudin. Since then, he has become my real mentor, to whom I owe the final education of my eye, ”writes Monet.
We will soon see this foggy sun by Jan Jongkind on the canvases of Claude Monet.
Johan Barthold Jongkind — Windmills by the Water, 1866 (Private Collection) fragment There were rumors that the Dutchman, with the clumsy gait of a "sailor on land", was a little out of his mind. Indeed, he seemed to be pursued everywhere. However, he was distinguished by generosity and generosity. “Most of all,” writes John Rewald, “he was interested in the types of variable nature that he skillful hand quickly and with inspiration it transformed, never repeating itself, into nervous lines and spots of radiant light.
We will soon see that Monet has mastered this technique of nerve lines and spots of radiant light to perfection.
Johan Barthold Jongkind - Moonlight over a Canal Dordrecht, 1876 Biography of Claude Monet - Influenced by William Turner
The English artist Joseph William Mallord Turner is considered one of the forerunners of Impressionism. Monet met his work in 1870 in London, having fled to England from the war between France and Prussia. The future impressionists Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro also fled there. Monet and Pissarro were lucky enough to find each other in London. Subsequently, Pissarro recalled: “... We also visited museums. The watercolors and paintings of Turner and Constable, the canvases of old Crome, of course, had an influence on us ... "
A schematically traced solar path on the water - do you recognize it?
William Turner - Sunset, 1841 Watercolor (Tate Gallery, London) From the biography of Claude Monet - romantic Eugene Delacroix
The famous romantic artist adored the sea. New Railway made it possible to quickly and conveniently travel from Paris to Normandy, where Delacroix paints here his famous watercolor seascape - the Rocks in the Dieppe area. Claude Monet liked the drawing so much that he bought it for his private collection. Sharp and decisive horizontal strokes of Delacroix in the image of the sea and the sky certainly influenced the formation of Monet's future landscape look.
Schematic and rare green waves - we will soon see them at Monet.
Eugene Delacroix - Cliffs near Dieppe, 1852-55 watercolor (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) Claude Monet in Le Havre
Between 1871 and 1874, Monet painted the harbor of Le Havre at least 10 times.
Le Havre in the reign of Louis Philippe experienced its heyday and surpassed Marseille in terms of traffic. With a population of 25,000, Le Havre was, according to Paulin Tellier's Neue Geography de France, "the liveliest of all the maritime commercial cities of the country." Herring and whale hunting, salt pits, tobacco manufactories, factories for processing potatoes into starch and workshops for the production of vitriol, faience factories - business life in the subprefecture of the department, which was then called the Bas-Seine, really boiled with might and main.
Claude Monet - The Grand Quai At Le Havre 1874 During the years of the July Monarchy, the omnipotence of oil was still far away, which means that neither oil flares with their heavy suffocating smoke, nor ugly warehouses for storing and transporting petroleum products spoiled the city's appearance. The then inhabitants of Le Havre, speaking "from across the sea", least of all had in mind the Persian Gulf! The port was heaped with piles of logwood shipped from Mexico, ocher-colored sycamore logs, the aroma of bananas and coffee was everywhere ... No “tankers” for you - only proud silhouettes of sailboats that came from Norfolk or New Orleans and are ready to set off again - heading for Galveston or New York.
Claude Monet — The Port of le Havre, 1874 (The Philadelphia Museum of Art) detail The harbor that Monet looked at in November 1872 from the window of the Hotel de l'Amiraute was no longer the one that William Turner painted before him.
William Turner (J M W Turner) - Le Havre ( for the Keepsake), 1832 (Dundee City Council, Art Museum) Biography of the painting: the birth and fate of Impression, Soleil Levant
... One morning, from the window of his room overlooking the old port, he saw the silhouettes of boats with peaks of masts through the fog and city smog. To the right, a red sun was rising, setting the sky on fire. What a beauty! Especially those glare on the lilac water, cast by a huge fireball! Rather, where is the canvas? Here it is, small, but it doesn't matter. (The canvas was 48 by 63 centimeters.) Brushes, where are the brushes? Quicker! The color is gone! But now the moment is captured, and from now on it will remain imprinted forever. This picture really had to make a lot of noise. In the close world of painters, she caused a real storm ...
The painting was shown at the first exhibition of the Impressionist group on April 15, 1874 in the former studio of the Parisian photographer Nadar (Boulevard des Capucines, 35). To be released for the exhibition good catalog. This business was entrusted to Renoir's brother Edmond.
Edmond said to Claude Monet: - You see, the titles of your paintings are very monotonous. "Exit from the village", "Entrance to the village", "Ships leaving the port of Le Havre" and so on. Well, for example, this work. What will you call her? "Ships entering the port of Le Havre"?
“No,” Monet replied calmly. - This one I'll call "Impression".
And the painting, listed in the catalog of the exhibition at number 98, eventually received the name “Impression. Sunrise". So Monet involuntarily gave a definition not only to the picture, but to the whole era in painting.
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet)
- Criticism was deafening - the press literally threw the cores of its participants, and the loudest volley was heard on April 25, 1874 in an article entitled "The Impressionist Exhibition". The author Louis Leroy writes about painting No. 98 as follows: “An impression, of course. I knew it. No wonder I'm so impressed! Wallpaper paper in the sketch stage, and it will look more elaborate than this painting!”
- Despite the fact that this work of Monet gave its name to a whole movement in painting, the painting itself was quickly forgotten after the first show and plunged into a long period of oblivion until the 50s of the 20th century.
- Shortly after the exhibition, the painting was bought by Ernest Hoschede for 800 francs, who then sold it a few years later to Georges Bellio for only 210 francs. In 1931 sum insured paintings amounted to 125,000 francs. Bellio promised Monet that the painting would never again be sold to the side and kept his word. Today the painting is in the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris.
- The place that Monet painted no longer exists. All the main buildings in the harbor of Le Havre were destroyed during the Second World War.
- The sun in the picture is the winter sun between November and January (and not in April, as previously thought).
- The picture was drawn at high tide - the gates of the gateway are open. Analysis of meteorological data, records of tide times and the opening of a lock from the Commercial Almanac allowed the researchers to calculate the date of the painting. The most likely date for painting the painting is November 13, 1872.
- The picture was drawn really in the morning - 30 minutes after sunrise.
- As soon as critics, organizers of exhibitions and journalists were not mistaken in the title of the picture: “Sunrise on the Thames”, “Impression. Sunset”, “Fog Effect” and even “Fog Moon Effect”.
Impression color palette and sunrise composition: Close-Up View
This picture was innovative - that is, it refutes all traditional tricks and stereotypes.
“A small study of light, fog and water” conveys both a fleeting impression and a modern industrial landscape. The artist captured that fleeting moment as the sun breaks through the fog over the harbor of Le Havre in Normandy. There was no question of any preliminary sketches and sketches - Monet painted very quickly and sweepingly in order to be in time.
To depict a gray morning with boats and cranes looming in the fog, Monet uses almost one color and one tone. In a monochromatic photograph, the sun is almost invisible. The only elements of the composition that differ in tone are the darker green boats.
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise, 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) monochrome version We see almost nothing. The horizon is dotted with ship masts and factory chimneys. Three ferrymen's boats diagonally create the effect of depth and space by gradually reducing the tone. Despite the fact that the outlines of cranes, smoke, water and boats are outlined in a sketchy manner, Monet carefully built the composition. The line of boats and the embankment converge in the depths on the left, but the sun and its reflection attract the eye, restoring balance to the composition. Strong diagonal lines correspond to vertical elements: pipes, taps, a solar path on the water and a person standing in a nearby boat. A closer look notices that the change in lighting on the calmer surface of the water at the entrance to the harbor gives the impression of deep water. Despite the seeming simplicity and sketchiness of the letter, Monet fully manages to convey the depth of space and the impression of the scene.
Only in early XIX century, new colors were created that Monet used in this picture: viridian (silver-green), violet, cadmium yellow and cadmium red.
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise, 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) fragment To depict the reflections of light on the water, Monet used pasty strokes of thick orange streaked with white, left unmixed. Free strokes of different shades of blue, gray, green and light orange convey the diversity and disorder of the water swell. Check out the sweeping and determined drawing style:
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise, 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) painting fragment Here color palette almost entirely focused on relationships additional colors- blue and orange. The orange sun is subtly backlit by pink and shimmers against a watery blue sky. Although the picture is almost monochrome and monotonous in tone, the sea is enlivened by reflections of delicate shades of viridian green and cream. Ghostly flashes of green, yellow and cream also flare up in the bright orange sky.
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise, 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) painting fragment
Wide horizontal strokes dominate: pale gray-blue and beige-orange in the sky, which occupies the upper third of the composition, blue, silver-green, orange and gray-brown shades of water in the lower part. The smoke effect from the pipes on the left is rendered using paint feathering.
The picture was painted in two stages - a clearly defined red-orange disk of the sun and its reflections on the water in the form of commas at the bottom of the canvas were probably added later.
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With a greenish filter, it's easier to see the complex texture of the sea illuminated by the sun:
Sharp strokes of pure viridian color convey dark color sea water where the sea between the waves is not illuminated by the sun. White and cream highlights, on the other hand, signify the crests of the waves that stir the leisurely calm waters of the harbor. The depth of the water is conveyed by blue and purple strokes applied over the soft pinks and oranges of the reflecting sun. The blue water is written in very light ultramarine, and darker strokes of viridian give it movement and depth.
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise (Impression. Sunrise), 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) fragment Misty sun by Claude Monet
I looked at the painting at the Marmottan Monet Museum for a long time and tried to unravel the visual trick of Claude Monet - how did the artist manage to create a convincing impression from a distance from primitive elements up close? The sun, when enlarged, especially clearly shows Monet's landscape innovation - it seems to be drawn carelessly and without much thought, literally with one rotation of the brush. I can imagine how angry critics of the painting at the first exhibition in 1874 buried their noses in this “non-circular” sun.
However, if you move away from the picture by 3-4 meters, it is this “wrong” sun that begins to dominate, attract attention and give natural and only true illumination of the entire landscape.
Claude Monet - Impression. Sunrise, 1872 (Paris, Musee Marmottan Monet) fragment
Monet certainly appreciated his artistic find and often used the famous foggy disk of a cold orange sun in later winter landscapes.
See for yourself: 
Claude Monet - Sun Setting over the Seine, Winter Effect, 1880 (Paris, Petit Palais, Musee des Beaux-Arts de la Ville) detail
Claude Monet - Sunset on the Seine at Lavacourt. winter effect 
Claude Monet - Sunset on the Seine in Winter 
Claude Monet - Waterloo Bridge. Sunlight in the Fog 
Claude Monet - Winter Sun (Lavacourt) (The review used materials from the books: Michel de Decker "Claude Monet", Diana Newwall "The Impressionists", "Encyclopedia of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism" (compiled by T.G. Petrovets), John Revald "History of Impressionism")
