[wagglebee]

The thing that amazed me the most is that all of Monet's worked seemed to become "clearer" depending on the distance you stood from them. Posters and pictures in books don't do them justice.

[Ditto]

The thing that amazed me the most is that all of Monet's worked seemed to become "clearer" depending on the distance you stood from them.

Exactly correct. Juxtapositions. The eye blends the image.

Nobody "gets them" without seeing the original. One of the most fun I had with my kids was showing them a very large Monet Water Lilly canvas at the Carnegie in Pittsburgh. I intentionally walked them up close to the painting at first and asked them what they saw. They were not "impressed".;~))

Then I walked them across the room to sit on a bench and asked them to look at it again. They fell in love with it.

Amazing talent involved in painting a large canvas, at arms length, that is intended for viewing from many yards away. A person has to be exceptionally skilled in seeing the "important" detail to render that image. I only wish I had a room big enough to do a Monet justice.

[walden]

"Posters and pictures in books don't do them justice."

So true. I think there's something about the brokenness of the color, and the way one color zings off of another, that the camera just cannot capture.

I am a painter myself, mostly in oils, and I had the funniest reaction the first time I left that exhibition-- even though I KNOW it's not true, my thought was, "His paint must just be BETTER than mine!" Wrong-- it's not about the paint. ;)