For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the light and the air which vary continually. For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of atmosphere in perceiving and appreciating landscapes, suggesting that context shapes our experience of beauty.
Claude Monet's quote reflects his belief that landscapes are not static entities; rather, they are dynamic and constantly changing based on various external factors like light and air. The surrounding atmosphere plays a critical role in how landscapes are perceived, imparting life and true value to them. By focusing on the interplay between the landscape and its atmosphere, Monet highlights the subjective nature of beauty and how perception can change over time.
In practice
In an art class, to illustrate how light affects perception of paintings.
When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you - a tree, house, a field....Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naive impression of the scene before you.
Zaandam has enough to paint for a lifetime.
The effect of sincerity is to give one's work the character of a protest. The painter, being concerned only with conveying his impression, simply seeks to be himself and no one else.
The light constantly changes, and that alters the atmosphere and beauty of things every minute.
Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. To such an extent indeed that one day, finding myself at the deathbed of a woman who had been and still was very dear to me, I caught myself in the act of focusing on her temples and automatically analyzing the succession of appropriately graded colors which death was imposing on her motionless face.
I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
People assume actors are born liars, but I'd argue the actor's job is to tell the truth. And I've realised I'm not a good liar.
You know, sound was still a fairly new thing when I came into movies. And the reason musicals happened is because of sound. They could put music in the picture! That's how it all began.
Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.
We usually evaluate creative process in terms of how much feeling or thinking was behind the work or how well the work was done. Isn't there any other way of appreciating the process? What if the standard of excellence was how fully present the artist was during the process?
The artist doesn't really think about consequences - he or she does the work, stands back and looks at and thinks, 'Hmm, that could have worked better like this.' But as a person who needs to sell tickets to do the next work, one needs to analyze how it does or does not hit its mark.
If writers just sit and talk about oppression, they are not going to do much writing.
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