On my trip to France, I visited Monet’s home in Giverney. I’d never really been a fan of his; just too damn pretty. But when I learned that he designed his garden in order to paint it - and his garden is a masterpiece - then I was like, dude, I love ya.
In Paris we visited the D’Orsay, which is the museum with a lot of impressionist stuff. We mainly visited because the building is super neat and we were doing an Art Deco, Art Nouveau themed visit (with my mom; she’s into that kind of stuff). Anyhow, the artist who super surprised me when I saw his work in person was Manet. I’d never liked his stuff. It was so odd and dark. Seeing it in person is such a wow. The famous painting of the picnic with the nude plopped in the middle of it - she’ s staring right at you, almost pops off the page. It’s like a 3D effect. And his other stuff too is just so much more mysterious and deep in person.
I’m still not sure that I particularly spark joy at these paintings the way I do with modern art, but there is a lot I appreciate now that I once did not.
(pics from Giverney)
<–he designed it to do this where the clouds reflect among the water lilies; that’s why this photograph looks JUST LIKE his painting
