Trees in Bloom 1872

Curator: Before us hangs Claude Monet’s "Trees in Bloom," created in 1872. A pivotal year for Impressionism! Editor: It certainly captures a transient moment. All that delicate white blossom feels fleeting, almost ephemeral. It's incredibly peaceful but has an undercurrent of... impermanence, would you say? Curator: Yes, that captures Monet's intention, painting en plein air was groundbreaking then. One can see his concern with rendering immediate perceptions of light and atmosphere as industrialisation crept across the natural world. This wasn't just pastoral idealization but an observation of place as an active process, subject to constant transformation by season and society. Editor: I see it more through the lens of materiality, the oil paint is built up so thickly in parts, especially on the blossoms, that they almost possess a textural presence. He made nature as a material object. The quick brushstrokes speak volumes of the artist working directly, registering his labor in applying the paint. It brings attention to how art-making can alter perceptions. Curator: That impasto really demonstrates the freedom Impressionists felt, challenging academic traditions. They wanted to make art that was 'modern', about everyday experiences within contemporary society rather than grandiose historical painting. It was an effort that took place through dealer networks that legitimized a painting like this that could be seen as “unfinished” by previous institutional standards. Editor: Right, and thinking of that public response to a seemingly unfinished piece really brings me back to material engagement. There were certainly artists before Monet using coarse applications of paint but that was commonly concealed with glazes or the subject of criticism; its upfront boldness challenged conventions of "good" or respectable artistry at that time by highlighting making instead of some kind of effortless transcendence in beauty standards which can then be consumed by public tastes that supported industry. Curator: Well put. Monet's ‘Trees in Bloom’ isn’t merely a pretty scene. It embodies artistic shifts during rapid socio-political changes when painters like him examined and reframed ways to see a modernizing world while establishing different infrastructures outside older established channels of displaying artworks which impacted even consumption tastes through galleries and exhibitions Editor: Indeed, and seeing the heavy impasto, the traces of labor on canvas… it prompts questions about our interaction with nature itself, of labor with it. Now, I think, perhaps all viewers bring their individual perspectives when they visit "Trees in Bloom." Curator: Indeed, perspectives influenced by what art historians share through academic context or even what the individual may come in to experience with material reality itself can make it fresh for viewers decades from when it was painted..