Post #4 The Political Side of Impressionism

The French government declared June 30, 1878 a national holiday. The day was a celebration of peace and a marker of France's recovery from the Fanco-Prussian war. For others it was also a reminder of the violent and bloody Paris commune that followed. Artistically, the interest in this particular day is that two prominent artists painted the festivities as they saw them. Both Claude Monet and Edouard Manet created pieces of the same holiday but each with different perspective,style, subject and tone to them. As a viewer it is interesting to see what each artist chooses to incorporate, leave out or put emphasis on, knowing that they are depicting the same moment in time.

Looking at The Rue Montorgueil painted by Claude Monet, the first thing that jumps out to me is the gathering masses. Monet takes a vantage point high above the streets and we see the gathering of people in the street but more in your face is the gathering of French flags waving all throughout the painting. There is an energy to the piece, created by the swift brush strokes and the contrasting colors of the red, white and blue flags against the more earthy tones of the town and its people. Monet and his impressionist style of liberal paint application and loose, but sufficient detail help this effect. There is an uplifting, celebratory tone to the piece that comes from the energy of the paint but also from the subject that is shown being all things France. The number of flags that are being flown and the mobs of people filling the streets give the sense that there is large pride in France. That they people are proud of France, to be in France and are celebrating France's survival and cheering its future. This makes sense because Claude Monet is an impressionist artist and impressionism has been known as a "forgetful" art form. This is associated to all the chaos, war and pain that helped give rise to the impressionist movement, but the artists attempting to forget those times and not explicitly portray it in their artwork. Instead they strongly focus on the present, modern day, and look fondly toward the future. This particular painting is a great example of capturing that impressionist sentiment.

Edouard Manet painted his piece and titled it Rue Mosnier with Flags. Manet chooses a a lower to the street perspective for his painting and after looking at the one by Monet, a far less busy street as well. There are still a number of French flags waving all down the distance, but they appear much more subdued and less energetic. Instead, the eye is drawn to the foreground, to the man with his back to the viewer. It takes no more than a glance to see that the man has lost a leg and is using crutches to get around. While this is later in his career, and his style appears closer to those of the impressionists, Manet still maintains a political aspect to his Avant-Garde art. This man is a grim reminder of what came before this celebration. What people lost and sacrificed for France to embrace this holiday. Though I am not sure if it was intentional or if connected, the figures across the street appear very ghostlike and transparent, especially in comparison to the man near the buggy at the same distance. The figures appear to be a family, and may serve as another reminder of all those families that were lost, broken up and devastated throughout both the war and Commune. The way that the details get much looser and blurred in the distance, it is pretty clear that Manet puts his message and emphasis on what is happening in the foreground. Where Monet chooses to try and depict feeling and emotion to communicate through his work, Manet is much more direct and explicit about what he wants the viewer to recall.