Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse

Claude Monet (1840-1926) 

was one of the leaders of the French movement called Impressionism, which actually got its name after one of Monet’s paintings“Impression: Sunrise”. In 1860s he started to paint outdoors, instead of working in a studio, which enabled him to capture the atmosphere and the mood of a location, observing the changes of light and colour.

The Rouen Cathedral series is not the only project in which Monet painted the same subject many times observing the changes in colour and light, but it is one that he is most known for.Between 1892-1894, Monet had been working on multiple paintings of the cathedral, trying to capture the changes in colour and light at different times of the day and under varying weather conditions. The series consists of over thirty canvases, from which the artist chose twenty that he considered the bestand exhibited them in 1895 at Durand-Ruel's gallery in Paris.

Monet admitted that in his work, he had little interest in the subject matter – he rather focused on the fleeting atmosphere of the place, trying to capture a moment in time.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

During his lifetime, Van Gogh only managed to sell one of his paintings. 

In his art, he tried to portray the inner spirituality of the subject, rather than just its outer appearance. He developed a distinctive style with the use of thick, curved brushstrokes and colour. 

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) 

 Is often regarded as the greatest colourist of the twentieth century. He was one of the leaders of Fauvism (Fauve meaning wild beast). Fauvists often used pure, unmixed colours in their work, creating very unnatural looking, but extremely colourful art. They often painted landscapes or nudes, trying to get rid of depressing subject matter in their pictures.