Monet in the Netherlands
After Monet: A Field of Tulips in Holland
Soft Pastel, 8 x 11
Monet visited the Netherlands three different times during his life. The first visit was in 1871 with his wife Camille and their little boy, Jean.
They visited Amsterdam, and stayed in Zaandam for several weeks while Monet painted the local scenery. Monet was fascinated by the rural countryside with it’s charming windmills and colorful little cottages. He returned to Amsterdam to paint for a short time again in 1874.
He returned once more in 1886, and visited Haarlem and The Hague. Today’s pastel is a copy of the painting Monet did during this visit. Note the difference in color schemes between the earlier paintings and the tulip fields painted in 1886.
The dominant feature in this painting is the polder windmill. At one time, there were 10,000 windmills across the Dutch countryside. Today, only 1,150 remain. The Zuid-Holland province still relies on it’s windmills, and has declared 2007 as the Year of the Windmill.
Technorati Tags: art, soft pastel, tulips, windmill, Netherlands
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Wow, the colors are beautiful! I love the purple clouds. The lighting you’re using in these is consistently muted, which I love because it lends mystery to the pieces.
Thanks Meg! I liked the colors in this one, too. The big bonus was that there weren’t any trees in it!
I’m glad the clouds are working. I don’t use white very well, so I tend to avoid it. Too many brights hurt my eyes!