The Basin at Argenteuil and the Basin at Argenteuil

        Comparison: The Basin at Argenteuil and The Basin at Argenteuil 

The Basin at Argenteuil by Claude Monet and The Basin at Argenteuil  by Paul Cezanne are both Impressionist landscape paintings depicting rural life. They belong to the same time period with Monet’s painting finished 30 years earlier, and they are of similar sizes. However, because of the two artists different styles, they convey very different moods.

 The Basin at Argenteuil is an oil painting of a serene rural scene by the renowned Impressionist painter, Claude Monet. It depicts the basin at Argenteuil with several sailing boats floating quietly on the surface of the water. In the background is the far bank of the basin, where trees grow luxuriantly and shade the promenade that extends along the bank. Enshrouded by the trees is a former ferryman’s house. In the foreground, woods block part of sight of the basin, adding depth to the composition as well as echoing the trees in the background. According to its museum label, the composition is cropped so that no industrial elements perturb the peaceful country scene.

        Similarly, Paul Cezanne’s unfinished painting, On the banks of a River is also a portrayal of a rural landscape. In the background, several houses enveloped by trees stand by the far bank of the river. The river which flows horizontally across the canvas is blocked from sight by a nearer house on the right side of the canvas. The foreground consists of larger color patches with indiscernible forms.

        Monet’s painting mostly makes use of a cool color palette with large areas of blue and green to create a calm and soothing atmosphere. Among the cool colors, several strokes of bright, warm orange on the boats immediately catch the viewer’s eye. Looking closer, Monet used multiple subtle hues of yellow and red to indicate the highlights on the trees and reflections of the house and the boats in the water. Cezanne’s painting, however, features a much brighter and more diverse color palette. Different hues of bright blue, green, yellow, orange and red dominate the canvas. His choice of colors is very subjective and idealized, since in real life one can barely see such saturated colors in a natural landscape.