TURNER|WHISTLER|MONETMART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

On a recent trip to Toronto I had the good fortune to take in the Turner, Whistler, Monet exhibition at the AGO. The show focused on the rendering of atmospheric effects by these three icons of nineteenth century European landscape painting. In particular it focused on the contrast of their urban paintings, particularly around London, with their more rural subjects. Although many of the subjects of these paintings are often described as having been painted under foggy conditions the truth is that in many urban areas during the nineteenth century industrial revolution the sun was often obliterated from the sky not by fog but by the extensive air pollution. It was these unfavorable air conditions which allowed Monet to further flatten his forms rendering them in a medley of muted tones of the primary and secondary colors usually just sketched on the canvas in fresh brush strokes of surprisingly thin paint.

House of Parliament, London, Claude Monet