Bennecourt 1885

Curator: What strikes me immediately is the texture. You can almost feel the roughness of the stone and the density of the paint. Editor: Indeed. And let’s orient ourselves. This is Claude Monet’s "Bennecourt," an oil-on-canvas work completed around 1885. The artwork presents a street view of a small town in France. The scene is centered on the architecture and buildings of Bennecourt Curator: The architectural rendering really exemplifies Monet’s departure from strictly representational art. We observe a deliberate, arguably playful handling of materials, where dabs and strokes of oil paint become the very essence of form and light. There is emphasis of process over product Editor: Absolutely. Impressionism’s radical approach challenged the academic traditions of the Salon. I’m always thinking about its position during that moment in French art history. Bennecourt, in particular, provides insight into the rapidly modernizing urban landscape and middle class of late 19th century France. It is an example of everyday beauty. Curator: The way Monet renders the sky, it gives one a strong sense of place and atmosphere. Editor: Certainly, one of the key stylistic departures was to paint ‘en plein air’ which involved setting up your easel and painting outdoors directly to the canvas. Curator: But also to your point of place, I think of Impressionism as not just a moment or school of thought, but as a kind of social phenomenon that redefined art's purpose. These impressionist painters are reflecting everyday experience to everyday people in new ways. Editor: A new way of capturing light but also a new process rooted in making with accessible material – that painting took to the outdoors really shows in that. Curator: True. Overall it's a marvelous display of Monet’s masterful use of light and shadow in bringing forth a slice of village life, wouldn’t you say? Editor: A lovely reminder that ordinary life rendered on material can possess such unique appeal, absolutely.