Art Talk: En plein air

This month's topic post is En plein air a term and practice popular in Impressionist Art which I have been highlighting this month.

En plein air is French for outdoors.

Claude Monet
Japanese Footbridge, 1899
National Gallery of Art, DC

Claude Monet was a prolific en plein air painter, he even made a special pond and bridge at his home in Giverny and painted many famous scenes of water lilies.

Claude Monet
Bridges over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899
MET, New York City

A few things that helped En plein air become more popular and accessible to artits in the late 1800s.

In 1840's paint in tubes was introduced.
The field easel was invented in the mid 1800's.
The Impressionists were working to capture light and color, they could paint landscapes, objects and people and were not constrained to paint a particular person or religious scene.

Claude Monet
The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874
National Gallery of Art, DC

Here I am in front of Claude Monet's Water Lilies, 1906, at the Chicago Art Institute in 2015.

This is a great two minute video of Claude Monet painting in his garden in Giverny in 1915.

In my last Art Talk post Art Talk: The Mother and Sister of the Artist I mentioned Edouard Manet and his interaction with Berthe Morisot and her painting. Here Manet is painting Monet and his family outdoors.

Edouard Manet
The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, 1874
MET, New York City

The en plein air movement wasn't limited to Monet or the French artists. There were painters in Italy- the Macchiaioli group, England- the Newlyn School, Russia, and Canada- the group of Seven and in America- the Hudson River School.

Next month's tour and topic will be the Hudson River School.

Sources
En plein air- Wikipedia

NOTE: There are many other wonderful en plein air paintings. I worked to convey the topic using the pictures I have personally taken over the years. A for this topic I have a lot of Monet.😀