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Claude's The Sermon on the Mount is a relatively large painting in a horizontal rectangular shape. It is a landscape painting with Jesus giving a sermon to a crowd of his followers as the subject. It states in the acoustic guide that Claude is trying to depict the landscape of Mount Tabor surrounded by the Dead Sea on the right and the Jordan River on the left. The painting is done from a high vantage point. One can see this because as the viewer looks at the painting he can see far into the distance, and on the (viewers) left the trees seem to be going downwards as if the viewer standing upon a hill and looking down over the trees. As they get further away they diminish in size.
On the left it seems as though the sun is setting, the sky is painted in yellow and orange tones, and on the right the sky is painted in different tones of blue. The clouds, which are in the sky, appear to be thick and soft, it looks as though they are soft cotton. Claude uses dark greens and tones of brown for the mountain and surrounding land. The trees and surrounding greenery look very realistic. One can see the thin edges of the leaves on the trees and bushes. On the mountain itself is Jesus wearing a bright royal blue.
There is a light emanating around his head as if he has a halo around his head to symbolize the divinity and spirituality of Jesus. The light focus of the mountain is on Jesus. His hands are raised up with his palms out as if in benediction. He is preaching and blessing the crowd around him. The people sitting directly around him on the mountain are wearing different shades of earthy brown, which blend them into their surroundings. This is in contrast to the bight blue that Jesus is wearing therefore putting focus on the brightness of Jesus.
The acoustic guide identifies the people sitting directly around Jesus as the twelve apostles. In the painting itself ones eye is drawn directly towards the dark greens of the mountain in contrast to the blues and yellows that surround it. The eye is specifically drawn to the center where Jesus is seated. The royal blue and brightness around his head in contrast to the earthy browns and greens draw the viewers eyes directly towards him. There are also people below under the mountain looking up and pointing towards Jesus giving his sermon. Some people have their hands raised in awe of the sight of Jesus, others are just watching.
The people on the left of the painting are sitting in a semi circle with their hands raised into the air, possibly in prayer or are just in awe of the sight that they are witnessing. On the right the people are gathering around. They are dressed in biblical styled clothing of bright colors, such as blue, yellow and red. They have sheep with them and are holding staffs. This can lead one to assume they are shepard's. These figures are closer to the picture plain therefore they are more detailed.
The viewer is able to see their faces and figures more clearly then the other figures in the painting. Claude does not use smooth brush strokes to create this painting, it seems as though Claude dabbed on the paint with his brush. He uses many different shades of blues, yellows, and whites to create the sky, and he sticks with earthy browns and greens so create the landscape. For the bodies of water he uses blues and white.
He uses oil paints on a canvas. The canvas gives it a more textured type of look, which helps Claude create a very realistic painting. He depicts the landscape very naturally. There is a creek flowing under the mountain and with realism he uses, it is as if one can actually hear the creek running. He paints with such accurate detail it has the ability to play with your senses and is almost as if the scene is occurring right before your very eyes. There is a triangular line going through the center of the painting, with the point being the top of the mountain.
The right landscape of the painting seems to mirror this triangular usage of line. There are mountains that form mini triangles, as well as the clouds, which also seem to form triangle. However, on the left there seems to be more use of horizontal lines, as the earth is flat. Both bodies of water look as if they are not alive. The viewer can see no movement in the water.
This is because of the distance Claude wants to depict between the point of the picture plane and the distant landscape of the water and land beyond. Vetheuil in Winter, a landscape painting by Claude Monet is a mid size painting that according to the acoustic guide is supposed to be a view of the city of Vetheuil from on the water. The guide states that Monet painted this painting from a flat - bottomed boat upon the body of water. In the water itself are two rowboats with people inside rowing. In the right boat some of the people look as though they are standing up. The painting is done at a low vantage point.
The viewer is looking upwards toward the city. Monet does not paint here in great detail. The viewer cannot make out the detailed figures of the people in the boat and cannot make out specifics in the city (such as specific houses etc). However, there is a tall tower in the middle of the city, which may be a church or other place of worship.
There are hills in the background of the city. There is also a white, sandy colored band that separates the water from the shore, and the shore from city. Monet uses light and shadowing with his reflections of the boats and people in them in the water. The whole painting is done in cool colors. The audio guide states that Monet uses these cool colors to give the viewer the cool fresh winter feeling, which it does.
He uses different shades of light blues, blue -greens and whites. It seems very fuzzy and hazy. Monet uses darker colors in the boats and in the reflections of the boats such as darker blues, greens, and even some black. Ones eye immediately is drawn to the boats because of Monet's usage of darker colors in contrast to the light colors he uses in the rest of the painting. Monet uses horizontal lines in the water, and uses more curvy lines and shapes in the city and in the hills in the background. The painting follows a triangular pattern, with the point of the tower being the point of the triangle.
The roofs of the homes in the city mirror the triangular effect. Monet uses impasto here. He puts heavy amounts of oil paint and applies it onto the canvas to give it texture and feeling. It looks as though Monet dabs on the paint in lines going in all directions. The whole painting is made from these vertical, horizontal, and crooked lines.
The viewer has to stand back in order to make out what is going on in the painting. If one stands to close it looks like a bunch of random lines and fuzzy shapes. In comparison both paintings are done in oil paint and done on canvas however in contrast, the two artists use them differently. Claude dabs the paint on and forms his figures through his strokes to give detail and texture whereas Monet uses impasto and lines to from his figures to give a sense of haziness and coolness to the painting. In both paintings one must stand at a distance to be able to make out the figures and images in the paintings, looking up close it looks obscure and unclear. However this is more so in Monet's painting.
In Claude's where it is not very clear when standing up close it is still possible to make out the subject of the painting. Monet does not use as much detail as Claude does in his painting. They want to depict their images in different ways. Claude wants the viewer to get the sense that he / she is actually standing there inside the painting so he paints with more realism and Monet gives it much less of a real feel. Both paintings however, have a feeling. Claude's painting gives you a realer feeling, where the viewer can actually use his / her senses to feel as though they are standing on the hill with rest of the people watching Jesus.
Monet however wants the viewer just to feel the coolness of a winters day in Vetheuil, and he does this through his use of color and line. Claude uses heavier and more striking colors in his painting whereas Monet uses lighter, cooler colors. Monet basically uses the same colors over and over in different tones and shades. In both paintings the bottom right corner is where the action is.
In Claude's painting the right hand corner contains the most detailed figures in colorful cloths, and in Monet's painting the boats, which contain the most diverse colors in comparison to the rest of the painting are in the bottom right corner as well. These same figures are the closest to the picture plane in both paintings. In comparison both paintings contain the triangular theme. In Claude's painting the triangle is formed with the point being the top of the mountain, the theme continues in the clouds and the mountains in the background on the right.
In Monet's painting the triangle is formed with its point being the point on the tower in the city. Another difference to consider between the two paintings is that Monet's painting is just a landscape, whereas Claude's painting is a landscape but contains a subject (Jesus giving his sermon). Monet and Claude both created landscape paintings that have the ability to capture ones attention through their use of color, projection, and original style. They are similar in many ways but differ in others. They are truly works of art. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Comparison Of Monet And Claude
