Charing Cross Bridge 09 1901

This "Charing Cross Bridge" painting by Claude Monet is like a hazy memory made with oil paint. The whole thing is bathed in this cool, dreamy light, mostly blues and purples, that makes you feel like you're seeing the world through a veil. Look closely, and you'll notice that the paint isn't trying to hide anything. It’s not about making things look real, it's about the feeling of the moment. There are all these short, choppy strokes, especially in the sky, that build up this amazing texture. It’s as if Monet was trying to capture not just what he saw, but the very act of seeing itself. The bridge sort of emerges out of the mist with vertical strokes suggesting its structure. Monet was really onto something. He was always playing with how light and color can totally change our experience of a place. It reminds me a bit of Turner, that other master of atmosphere, but Monet brings his own kind of blurry, almost melancholic, vision to it. It's a reminder that art is more about questions than answers.