The Seine at Lavacourt 1878

Claude Monet painted "The Seine at Lavacourt" using oil on canvas. Here, Monet captures the river Seine, presenting us with an interplay of light and reflection through loose brushstrokes. The painting's composition balances horizontal bands of the sky, the distant shore, and the river itself, creating a sense of depth and atmospheric perspective. Monet's use of broken color and visible brushstrokes destabilizes traditional representation, focusing instead on the transient effects of light. The reflections in the water mirror the forms above, blurring the line between reality and its representation, questioning the stability of perception. The materiality of the paint itself becomes a key element, drawing attention to the act of painting as a process of capturing sensory experience rather than merely depicting a scene. This approach challenges fixed ideas about what a landscape painting should be, engaging with new ways of thinking about space, perception, and representation in art.