The Art of France

There is art all around us. France, specifically, has inspired many artists as I am noexception. Being here has made me want to set up an easel and paint, which I find surprising since a.) I don’t like painting and b.) I don’t necessarily like doing landscapes. Perhaps it is because I have never found a landscape which has sparked my interest, but whatever the case I am currently on an artist quest to paint, draw, or photography any and all artistic things I may find.

Many famous artists, such as Paul Cezanne and Claude Monet, have lived and or studied here to further their talents. And with such beauty around them what artist wouldn’t be inspired? Everywhere I go it seems that I stumble upon something which is related to these artists. Yesterday at the beach in Etretat I looked at the cliffs and recognized them from one of Monet’s landscape paintings (and later saw it at his house again).

A few days ago I went to Paris and arrived at the Saint Lazare train station. From the moment I got off the train I knew I had seen it before, but where? Then I remembered one of my art history teacher’s lectures on impressionism. The painting Saint Lazare Train Station, 1891, Claude Monet was the first slide. I said this previously and I’ll say it again since I just can’t get over it: going to these places and seeing them through my own eyes and then seeing them through someone else’s is truly awe-inspiring.

It’s not just seeing going to those specific places depicted in famous paintings, but also seeing the artworks which I have studied, in person. At Claude Monet’s house I saw his painting Impression: Sunrise painted in 1872. This is one of his paintings which I studied last semester in Art History II, and seeing it in person has made me truly appreciate it. It is one thing to learn about something, and a whole other to experience it; they are incomparable.

From the beginning of this trip I have been inspired by many things, buildings, landscapes, and emotions. As an artist this is the greatest one can feel, next to successfully completing a work which they have put their heart and soul into; it is a sense of accomplishment which no one can take away from you.

“A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt

to put on to canvas what is in front of him, but one

who tries to create something which is, in itself,

a living thing.” -William Dobell