How Did Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent See What they Saw?

How can artists pull you into their vision to feel what they wants you to feel?

It's "point of view." Every artist is hard-wired with a point of view. 

The concept is sometimes called an artist’s “voice.” For writers, voice and POV are more academically defined. But we will look at artists, specifically painters.

The overriding point of view (POV) for an artist is one of the essential characteristics of observing life in a unique way. Artists' point of views allow them to:

1. Shape and limit what subject matter they are interested in,
2. Influence how they observe the world, and
3. Oversee how they translate their observations into their art.

In addition to the artist’s “hard-wired” point of view, in practice there are many “lenses” the artist uses to add a situational point of view. Meaning, an artist adds narrowing filters to find a unique expression for each artwork. 

This kaleidoscope of POV lenses can:

1. Inform us of the artist’s relation to the subject matter. For example, it can be an emotional relationship. Or, even literally a relationship as in a “father” or a “student.”
2. Show us the energy with which the artist is engaging with the art. For example, as with the brush strokes of Van Gogh.
3. Allow us to be a "watcher" in the scene, as in Edward Hopper’s "Nighthawks" from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

4. Allow us to be a participant in the scene, as I'll show you with some watercolors of John Singer Sargent.

5. Show us a technique that creates a point of view specific to the artist, such as the weirdness of Salvador Dali (my opinion—you don’t have to agree. :-) ) or Impressionism, or Cubism, or Van Gogh’s distinct use of brush strokes.

Let’s take a look at Claude Monet.

As one of the founding artists of Impressionism, Monet’s point of view was to create art that was an interpretation of reality; an impression.

In moving away from traditional French art of the era, he sought an experimental, less realistic style. His first paintings were scorned, as were those of the other painters who became known as the Impressionists. They were rejected as unfinished, and too clumsy to meet the standards of Paris Salons.

In Monet's career, he continued to study the nature and quality of light as it fell on objects. One of Monet’s lenses for his point of view became studiously examining the effect of light on the same object over time. To accomplish this he created several series of paintings to capture light at various times of day and in various seasons.

The Haystacks

Monet painted between 25 or 30 paintings of haystacks in the area around his garden home at Giverny between 1888 and 1891. He worked on the haystack series until he was 51.

The following description is from the Monet Exhibition Catalog (from the Metropolitan Museum and the St. Louis Art Museum, 1978). The description from Charles S. Moffett is a bit circular, but that’s what makes it beautiful and so profound.

Stacks of Wheat, (End of Summer)

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Stacks of Wheat, end of Day, Autumn

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Rouen Cathedral

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Let's Turn to John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent was a master in oil painting and in watercolors. Primarily, we’ll confine ourselves to his watercolors.

Sargent was significantly influenced by the instruction of his professor and mentor, Carolus-Duran (1837–1917). Sargent was a young, extremely talented pupil in Duran’s Paris studio in 1874.

He became Duran’s star student, and the affection and admiration was mutual. Carolus-Duran was an aficionado of the style “alla prima” or as I would say, just jumping into it.

Carolus-Duran recommended working directly on the canvas (or paper) with a brush full of paint. He taught that the he artist could “draw” with a brush, and then continue to complete the painting with brushes. No elaborate underdrawings in pencil or chalk were necessary.

This was a radical idea then, and continues to be fairly radical today for many artists and many universities. Drawing is a core competency for most artists. And to breeze over it, or ignore it, can seem in conflict with good practice in creating art.

Sargent created over 1,000 watercolor paintings with the most prolific period for his watercolors after 1900 when he decided to set aside the painting of oil portraits. By that time he had grown weary of the demands of formal portraiture. It required an ability to create a likeness of your subject that was close enough to be recognizable, but was flattering enough to have the commission accepted and paid for.

He painted watercolors primarily for his own pleasure. The fluidity that he imbued into his watercolors demonstrated his enjoyment. 

To start his watercolors, Sargent frequently drew a light, simple sketch with graphite pencil. He built on Carolus-Duran’s teachings. He jumped right into his watercolors with a brief sketch. Whether in a brush or a pencil, this became a consistent way of working for Sargent.

In the image below, you can see light preliminary lines where Sargent sketched out the loops of the ropes. Often he didn't follow the lines when he painted the watercolor. The graphite lines were just a suggestion to him.

A more focused lens of Sargent’s point of view is his inclusion in many paintings, of the front of the boat he was riding in. I notice it especially in his paintings from Venice.  

It is a friendly convivial point of view--which I think was his nature as a person. The bow of the boats adds triangle shapes to the composition, and Sargent was big on strong lines and shapes to move the eye around in his paintings. But there is no compelling reason why he includes the bow, other than to put his viewer in the boat with him. The front of the gondola is often included in the bottom few inches of the painting for Sargent to say to the viewer, "this is your point of view, too. You are sitting here with me."

In the image below, note the artist's gondola in the lower right-hand corner of the painting. We feel we are sitting in the gondola. Our eyes and point of view are in line with Sargent's eyes and point of view.

In the image below, The Grand Canal, just the edge of the artist's gondola is in the lower right hand corner of the painting. It's subtle. You almost have to be looking for it, as I was, as an inside joke between you and Sargent.

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Although we can't see the front of the gondola in this image by Sargent, we know we are at the same level in the canal as Sargent and as the sleeping gondoliers.

Sargent painted quite a few gondoliers, many of them asleep. I am guessing that they often snoozed while he painted. Probably a good gig for a gondolier if you could get it. :-) His gondola may have been sideways to these two gondolas so he wouldn't drift in between them.

Imagining the exact position of his gondola allows me to experience the personalities in this painting more intimately. You too?

This is one more reason why John Singer Sargent is such a favorite artist of mine. He virtually takes my hand and plunks me down in the gondola with him. 

Do you feel the same way?

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More posts with discussions of artists' point of view:

​John Marin’s vs. Edward Hopper. Rediscovering John Marin, American Watercolorist​

Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson's (1908-2004) point fo view was to capture the "decisive moment." As I have described in other posts it is that fraction of an instant before something happens. It is that fleeting space between the past and what is to come. And sometimes, it is a horrifying moment when you can’t look away because you are compelled to see what disaster will happen next.

Here are two very different blog posts of mine on “the decisive moment:”