Monet's World: The Meadows at Giverny

 In 1886, Monet was 47 years old and living in Giverny, Eure, France. He planted a large garden, learned a lot about garden planting and plants, and completed most of his artistic creations for the rest of his life. Monet's wife Camille had died this year, and he was living here

The composition of "Meadow at Giverny" is elementary, mainly composed of green grass, orange-yellow trees, and a milky white sky. The grass occupies more than half of the picture. The grass at the bottom has the most apparent and thickest brushstrokes, dotted with pink and lavender flowers. The strokes become smaller and blurrier as you go up and finally disappear at the intersection of the trees on both sides for a strong sense of visual depth. I feel like I can step into the picture frame as soon as I lift my foot, run on the soft grass, be careful not to step on the little wildflowers in the grass, keep moving forward along the depth of the lawn and trees, the cool breeze carries the smell of grass and trees Brushed across the face, it makes people want to see what it looks like outside the painting.

There are long, horizontal tree shadows on the lawn. The lawn closest to us at the bottom is covered with oversized shades. Monet is sitting in the shadow behind the picture, holding a paintbrush and palette and swinging in front of him. Looking at the easel, the orange-red leaves on the big tree on the right swayed in the autumn wind, rustling, and a few leaves fell to the ground. Approaching the canvas, you can see that the places where the light falls are very delicately and vaguely dotted with white paint. The sun is outside the frame on the right, the sun is not drawn in, but the shadows of the sun are everywhere.

Looking at the row of orange-red trees on the opposite side of the lawn, orange, highly saturated yellow, pink, and pinkish purple, just looking at the color scheme makes people feel extremely comfortable. When you zoom in on the picture, you can see almost only the accumulation of colors, without any outlines, but when you look at the whole, everyone can clearly understand what this is, and at the same time, it is very layered. One tree in the grove was exceptionally tall, with a tinge of purple, and the only one whose trunk was vaguely depicted, out of tune with its neighbors. Some say the tree symbolizes Monet himself. Not to mention no attention. Once you read such a note, you can no longer ignore this tree. You always feel that it is a bit abrupt and even destroys the overall harmony of the picture.

If you take a step back and look at the whole, you will find that this painting does not actually have a prominent subject, and the center of the painting also has a feeling of emptiness, a single grass, a single tree, a single cloudy sky, and nothing else. But because of this, the picture is not limited to this. The rest of the scene is up to you to open your legs and close your eyes to see. "Empty" itself contains many things. Empty can give people a feeling of comfort and comfort, it can also be lonely, and it can be freedom.

The painting has magical power. It crosses time and space, comes here from a rural field, year after year, lying quietly in the museum, watching the people who come and go, stay in front of it and pass by. The person who created it has long since passed away, but every color and brushstroke of it permanently seals the artist's emotions, feelings, thoughts, and fragments of some souls when he created it--they cry quietly: he is still alive.

Standing in front of the painting, it is hard not to fall into the image, into a dream-like world Monet where colors dance between light and shadow.