Impression, Sunrise

Widely regarded as Monet’s single most famous painting, Impression, Sunrise was completed during the late nineteenth century in 1872. The most significant aspect of the painting is its credit with giving the Impressionist Movement its name.

The imagery of this work of art presents a focus on the calm feeling of a misty maritime scene. Slightly below the center of the painting, a small rowboat with two indistinct figures floats in the bay. The early morning sun is depicted rising over the foggy harbour with ships and other various boats at port. The shadows of the boats and figures and the reflection of the sun’s rays can be seen on the water’s surface. Monet incorporates a palette of mostly cool, dull colors into the painting with blues and grays, but also includes splashes of warm colors noticed in the sky and the red-orange sun. This usage of a noticeably bright color draws attention to the main focus of the painting, the sun. Numerous vertical elements can be found throughout this hazy landscape. To the left of the center of the canvas, a four-masted clipper ship enters the harbor while smoke-stacks of steamboats fill the atmosphere. Cranes and heavy machinery can be detected to the right side of the painting. The emissions of the factories, ships, and machinery mix with the early rays of the sun to generate a sort of beauty that is ?°both surprising and seductive.?±

The ships in the background create a sense of depth for us, while the fact that we can’t really make out the people on the boats in the foreground adds to this idea that the painting is supposed to be an impression of how the port feels in the morning and not an actual representation of the port on any given day. The small, short, dot-like brush strokes allow Monet to quickly capture this changing scene and give us an even greater sense that the moment is not permanent.

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