Look at artists who worked in series with the landscape, such as Monet, Pissarro or Cézanne. Make notes in your learning log about the challenges they faced and how they tackled them.
I began my search as usual with Google, starting with Claude Monet whose paintings I admire intensely. The Wikipedia article on Claude Monet gave me a first pointer on what to look out for:
“Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s through the end of his life in 1926, Monet worked on “series” paintings, in which a subject was depicted in varying light and weather conditions. His first series exhibited as such was of Haystacks, painted from different points of view and at different times of the day… He later produced several series of paintings including: Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, the Parliament, Mornings on the Seine, and the Water Lilies that were painted on his property at Giverny.”
This points to the central aspect of the challenge: the changing light and weather conditions. At first thought, landscape may be seen as „easy“ to draw or paint because it is not moving, so one can take all the time needed to quietly finish the work. But light and weather conditions are a factor which can completely change the character of the scene within minutes. This may be less of a problem with quick pencil or charcoal drawings which focus on line, but it may become more difficult as soon as tonal values are included, and all the more when coloured media are used. Depending on the degree of detail in the artist’s style and working speed, an afternoon may not suffice to complete an oil painting „plein air“. Spending a whole day at the location may be possible, but the light and weather conditions are almost certain to change over the day, and of course from one day to the next.
I see several strategies to cope with this: In our modern times, the easiest would be to take a digital photograph and complete the painting from the photograph later in the studio. Another is to put the painting on hold and return to the scene when the weather is at least somewhat similar. Or the artist must learn to work quickly, maybe doing only a colour study at the location and technical drawings to record details and then complete the painting in his study. Or maybe it is possible to work so fast that the entire painting can be finished in one go, on the place.
Monet’s haystack series
– A series of 25 paintings of haystacks completed 1890-91
– Monet painted still more thematic variations, the paintings are distributed across museums all over the world
– Variations also in the seasons of the year
– They captured different atmospheres and mood
“Monet noticed this subject [the haystacks] on a casual walk. He requested that his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé bring him two canvases. He believed that one canvas for overcast weather and one for sunny weather would be sufficient. However, he realized he could not demonstrate the several distinct impressions on one or two canvases. As a result, his willing helper was quickly carting as many canvases as a wheelbarrow could hold. His daily routine involved carting paints, easels, and many unfinished canvases and working on whichever canvas most closely resembled the scene of the moment as conditions fluctuated. Although he began painting realistic depictions en plein air, he eventually revised initial effects in a studio to both generate contrast and preserve the harmony within the series.”
This quote from the Wikipedia article nicely illustrates the artist’s challenge and the practical solution he found of working on several paintings in parallel. The article points out that Monet intended to „show nuances of perception as seasons, time of day, and weather“ changed a scene, which to me summarizes the core of the challenge lying in painting landscapes in series. Monet was reported to sometimes work only minutes on a single painting – just as long as the particular light effect he was interested in was visible in the scene.
From the series of 25 haystacks, I selected three which all depict a winter scene of haystacks, but in different light conditions.
The first and the second depict the same scene, once in the morning, once at sunset. The third one is a slightly different view on the haystack in the morning.
I hadn’t been aware about the degree to which the choice of colour nuances affects the overall atmosphere of a painting. Monet’s approach is impressively scientific and reminds me of a typical precondition in experiments termed „all else being equal“, i.e. only one aspect of the setting is changed to study its effects on the overall system. Monet held constant his topic and conducted sort of a ‘natural experiment’ to capture the effect of different light conditions.
Other series by Monet
The Wikipedia article mentions „Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, the Parliament, Mornings on the Seine, and the Water Lilies“. The ‚Mornings of the Seine‘ seems to fit the idea of landscape quite well, so I chose to research these further. The series was painted 1896-97, roughly 5 years after the Wheatstacks, and Monet seems to have been persevering and inventive in how he approached the task of capturing different light and weather conditions in his paintings. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, showing one of the paintings of the Seine series:
„The series “Morning on the Seine” was begun in 1896 but not completed until 1897 because of inclement weather. First, Monet patiently scouted out particular views along the river; then he painted the pictures from a boat that he had converted into a floating studio. For an extended period, he arose before dawn and reached his boat before sunrise in order to paint the changing effects of light as the sun came up. He then lined up the canvases on easels in his studio to complete them together. Eighteen of the pictures were shown at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1898. One was dated 1896, the others 1897.“
I found paintings from this series at Bridgeman Education Library. Monet created different atmospheres through the use of different colours which captured the light situation of the particular setting. For the inexperienced eye (like mine) it can be difficult to distinguish the images when they are not presented side by side… I had the impression that Monet often produced more than one painting of each type, eg in grey weather or in the morning. He may have done this to perfectionize his technique.
Of the many that were available, I selected two pairs of paintings which show almost identical scenes in different colour and lighting. All are morning views on the Seine, painted 1896-97.
I became aware of a problem in the presentation of paintings in image libraries like Bridgeman Education. The pictures are not presented in thematic coherence, but sorted by sometimes arbitrary characteristics like „relevance“ (which changes according to search criteria and is rather obscure to me). Although I had done a bit of research on Monet earlier, it hadn’t occurred to me that he approached some subjects as series – the only thing I had noticed was that he had made many paintings in his garden in Giverny, and very often the pond with water lilies. So I’m quite glad about this research point and the insights I gained!
Am I influenced?
Later that day I realized that I seem to be following a similar idea with a project outside coursework which I’m currently developing. I live in Berlin and on my way to work, I pass by the Holocaust Monument which is close to Tiergarten and Brandenburger Tor. After a while I became fascinated by how differently the monument looked at different times of the day and in different weather conditions and thought it would be nice to capture this in a series of images. Some days ago I did a first brief photography session in the morning before work. It was a rainy and dull day but I made lots of pictures because it was the first time I was there and I discovered many new views on the monument.
This morning I made another session because it had snowed and I wanted to include this in the domumentary. I think it was a bit earlier in the morning than the first time, and the light was very dim. The photos show a marked difference in colour tendency – the first has a brown, the second a blue tone in the grey concrete and overall. I’m not sure whether this is simply a camera effect, but I think there was indeed a difference in the colour of the lighting. I’ll certainly have more pronounced differences between a dim and a sunny day and morning light vs midday or afternoon light, but this was just to make a start.
The session was really very brief… I stayed outside for about 5 minutes because it was minus 6 degrees and I was freezing. Thinking about Monet painting the haystacks in winter and imagining he worked on several paintings simultaneously, I’m full of admiration for his endurance to stay outside in the cold for extended periods and I wonder whether the oil paint was difficult to use at low temperatures. The modern approach of taking photographs is so much easier… but the camera is a filter and I think it is better to paint on the place rather than relying on the colour translation of a camera. Maybe a learned photograph is capable to achieve truthful colour representation, but my photographs will probably be more of a chance result.
I had indeed planned to also do drawings and colour sketches directly at the monument, but I will wait for spring to come, it’s simply too cold at the moment. I was just somewhat perplexed today when I realized that I had embarked on a project which is essentially about the same topic as Monet’s landscape series – the differences of the subject under different lighting and weather conditions.
What is a landscape series?
But while researching the topic, I realized that the idea of a landscape series could be conceived differently. One example would be a series which captures the character of a region from its different aspects, for example hills, meadows, houses, small towns. The artist might deliberately chose weather conditions to remain stable, to support coherence across the different views he paints. What also comes to mind are painted landscapes of the mediterranean which seem to be recognizable even across different painters from the special characteristics of the glaring sunlight.
References
Wikipedia Article on Claude Monet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet
Wikipedia: Monet’s haystack series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystacks_%28Monet%29
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, presenting Monet’s painting ‚Morning on the Seine near Giverny‘
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110001573
Bridgeman Education Library
http://www.bridgemaneducation.com/