The Seine near Bougival 1872

Claude Monet painted The Seine near Bougival using oil on canvas, a readily available material indicative of the shift to industrialized art production. Monet used the mutable qualities of oil paint to capture the changing light and atmosphere of the landscape. Notice the visible brushstrokes, which evoke the sensation of a fleeting moment in time. This technique suggests the physical act of painting, of an individual applying pigment to the surface. The rise of ready-mixed paints in tubes coincided with the burgeoning of Impressionism, freeing artists from the laborious task of grinding their own pigments. This also allowed artists like Monet to leave the studio and paint ‘en plein air’. The availability of materials and increased mobility, democratized the art-making process, though the art world still very much remained for the upper classes. So, when you consider a painting, think about the materials, and how new technologies changed artistic practice. This helps us understand how society and art are always intertwined.