Lesson 2 - Friends Paint Together

Pierre August Renoir 

"Water Lillies"

Claude Monet

"Water Lillies"

Renoir

"La Grenouiller"

Monet

"Bathers at La Grenouiller"

Renoir

"Garden Pathway at Giverny"

Monet

"Garden Pathway at Giverny"

Renoir and Monet: Friendship and Art

The art world is often considered small and intimate, with many artists moving in the same social circles. This can sometimes lead to unexpected friendships and collaborations. This is especially prevalent within certain art movements, such as Impressionism. Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir were two such painters that formed a bond both on and off the canvas.

Both of these painters are considered masters of the Impressionist art movement. Their styles do have some similarities, but also reflect a difference in their personalities. Claude Monet, who founded the style, often focused on light and emotion, while Renoir chose to make the people in his works the centerpiece. Although they both used soft colors and broad brushstrokes that the movement was known for, their pieces could never be mistaken for each other.  See More...

If you magnify each of the images you should be able to see how the over - all design gets lost in teh closed up.  Impressionism gives you an Impression, from a distance, of the picture.  When you get close you are lost in a million tiny brush strokes.  Each stroke representing shades and tones of light.

Monet would often set up several easels with canvases around his lily pond. He would begin in one place in the morning and paint how things looked form that spot in the early morning light.  As the day progressed, he would move on to the next canvas and capture how the light changed the colours at each place.

So our two new artists for the day are: (Say them aloud as you look at each picture)

"Impressionism is many small brush strokes, in many colours used to portray light."

"Monet was the first impressionist. " 

"Renoir was also an impressionist."

"Monet and Renoir were friends who painted together."

And now it is time to run Art Cards:

Name the artist and the name of the painter for each of the following images: