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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SPELLBINDING VISUAL EXCITEMENT, September 30, 2000
This review is from: Monet and the Mediterranean (Paperback)
The artist's rainbow palette and his self-imposed task of "painting light" are vividly presented in Monet and the Mediterranean by Joachim Pisarro. Focusing on Monet's work during his three stays on the southern coasts of France and Italy, this exhibition catalogue showcases paintings executed under the most extreme effects of light. Grandson of Camille Pisarro and a noted art historian, Joachim Pisarro writes, "Monet's decision to paint by the Mediterranean in 1884 was bound to an inner strategy: his art was a constant search for shatteringly new pictorial motifs." We are not disappointed, the lushly overgrown vegetation and brilliant sun in his landscapes provides spellbinding visual excitement. "What is astonishing about Monet's work in the south is the degree of elasticity, of pictorial metamorphosis, and of technical virtuosity it required from the artist." Mr. Pisarro said. "A century after these paintings were produced, their impact remains undiminished." An insightful biography and history, Monet and the Mediterranean holds 120 striking color plates.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Monet Treasurehouse - Gorgeous Color Plates!, May 21, 2004
Claude Monet's fascination with the Mediterranean began in December 1883, when Pierre-Auguste Renoir invited him on a trip to the Riviera. En route to the sea they visited Paul Cézanne in L'Estaque. By the time they reached Monaco, their first Mediterranean stop, Monet was completely enchanted by the warm southern climate, its lush, exotic vegetation, and the extraordinary quality of light. He was to return again and again to the southern coasts of France and Italy to paint some of his most superb work. "Monet And The Mediterranean" unites over 100 paintings created during the course of three major trips Monet made to the Mediterranean from 1883 to 1908. The sheer beauty of the nature these works depict is breathtaking, as are the luminescent colors of his palette and dazzling light effects. The artist's use of light is frequently dramatic, as he often painted scenes at sunrise, midday and sunset. Joachim Pisarro has brilliantly communicated, through this text, his deep love for painting and art history. He has combined and provided here a biography, history, and critical interpretation that allowed me to view some of my favorite paintings as if for the first time. This volume features over 100 color plates, with introductory commentaries for each series or group of paintings. The artist's love of the region and its light is evident in his work - from olive and citrus trees in the Italian fishing village of Bordighera to the vast seas and skies of Cap Martin and Cap d'Antibes to the shadowy canals and golden Ducal Palace of Venice. The Mediterranean was, perhaps, Monet's greatest muse, providing him with a climate, light and color that possessed him with what curator Joachim Pissarro calls an "ineluctable need to paint." A real treasure of a book! Makes a wonderful gift!
JANA
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Monet and the Med (and Adriatic), September 16, 2011
This review is from: Monet and the Mediterranean (Paperback)
Gorgeous collection of and commentary on Claude Monet's painting sorties into the Riviera regions of France and Italy in the 1880s and his several months in Venice in late 1908. The paintings in this beautifully printed book (originally a catalog for a 2000 exhibiition) are uniformly stunning in the exuberant color and Eden-like subject matter. Paintings done in Bordighera on the Italian Riviera, for example, show a semi-tropical landscape that must have been somewhat overwhelming to paint for a northerner, even an experienced landscape artist like Monet. There is saturated color in everything, starting with the sea and certainly including the lush vegetation and Mediterranean architecture and natural features. This is equally so for the landscapes done on the coast near Menton/Monte Carlo--they are truly dazzling. The paintings of Venice are unique for a place that had been painted for centuries by the world's best artists. Monet's impressionist eye found a new way to portray many familiar buildings and monuments that does justice to the subjects, but basically puts the prominent focus on light and color.
What is also admirable about this fine book is the purposeful inclusion of many paintings of the same scene but at different times of the day or from slightly different angles. It provides visual insight into how Monet approached his subjects and how he famously dealt with the challenges of changing light in plein aire painting.
If you have never visited the Riviera towns represented in this book, you will certainly want to do so after a look at just the cover. While these places have all become summer meccas since the 19th century, they retain most of the charm and natural allure that appealed to Monet and inspired these paintings.
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