Rouen Cathedral (Monet) - Painting Light

Painting Light

When Monet painted the Rouen Cathedral series, he had long since been impressed with the way light imparts to a subject a distinctly different character at different times of the day and the year, and as atmospheric conditions change. For Monet, the effects of light on a subject became as important as the subject itself. His Series Paintings, in which he painted many views of the same subject under different lighting conditions, are an attempt to illustrate the importance of light in our perception of a subject at a given time and place.

• Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight
  1892
  National Gallery of Art
  Washington, D.C., USA

• Rouen Cathedral,red, Sunlight
  1892
  National Museum of Serbia
  Belgrade, Serbia

• La Cathédrale de Rouen. Le portail et la tour Saint-Romain, plein soleil ; harmonie bleue et or
  1892-1893
  Musée d'Orsay
  Paris, France

• La Cathédrale de Rouen. Le portail, soleil matinal; harmonie bleue
  1892-1893
  Musée d'Orsay
  Paris, France

Robert Pelfrey, in Art and Mass Media (Kendall/Hunt, 1996), says:

By focusing on the same subject through a whole series of paintings, Monet was able to concentrate on recording visual sensations themselves. The subjects did not change, but the visual sensations – due to changing conditions of light – changed constantly. (166)

The cathedral series was not Monet's first series of paintings of a single subject, but it was his most exhaustive. The subject matter was a change, however, for prior to this series, Monet had painted mostly landscapes. The cathedral allowed him to highlight the paradox between a seemingly permanent, solid structure and the ever-changing light which constantly plays with our perception of it. There were calls for the state to buy the entire series and exhibit them as a whole, but unfortunately these calls were not heeded and the series was divided.