A Brief Comparison between Bordighera and Landscape at L’Estaque

As one influential painter who pioneered the Impressionism, Claude Monet created

Bordighera in 1884 as one part of his consistent effort of adhering to the movement’s philosophy over documentation of qualities of nature. Through portraying pine trees and the sea, Monet proves his ambition in capturing the transient nature of light and its effects on perceptions of materials. On the other side, Georges Braque’s Landscape at L’Estaque, made in 1906, stays as one representative work of Fauvism that emphasizes painterly images and brilliant colors. The painting demonstrates the artistic focus on employing the wildness of colors and high abstraction to achieve evocative functions within Fauvism. By putting together the works of two painters from different schools, this essay illustrates similarities and distinctive formal aspects in representing the local view at French Mediterranean coast. It shows that while the subject matters and imagery features are strikingly similar, two artists’ techniques in expressing lines, colors, and space indicate remarkable differences.

Despite that painting styles of Bordighera and Landscape at L’Estaque are supported by two different philosophical theories, both works deliver senses of harmony by depicting the French town landscape that includes similar content and painting features. While the objects were viewed at different times, with Bordighera being completed in summer, Landscape at L’Estaque in autumn, two painters’ intentions of capturing the central subject’s patterns and its relation to the surrounding environment resemble with each other. In Bordighera, thriving pine trees with lush green leaves occupy across the central picture of the oil painting, inviting viewers to take in the primary object and grasp the overall theme of the vitality of natural scenery. The same focus on the nature imagery appears in Braque’s picture, where upstanding trees and their brightly colored branches are centrally arranged and allow for convenient settlement on the core part of the painting. The subject matter specifically put on outdoor landscapes, and similar manner of organization of components helps two paintings present a spirit of unity within their structures.

One radical distinction emerges in Monet and Braque’s methods in using lines, one formal element that indicates two unique understandings over artistic expressions in oil painting. In Bordighera, with the help of small and thin strokes, as well as a realistic attitude over the precise depiction of ordinary objects stressed by Impressionism, Monet creates a large amount of crooked and thin lines. Mainly used in portraying patterns of pine trees, the curved trunks and irregular shapes of abundant branches and leaves remarkably provides a sense of direction along which viewers could trace. Besides, the representation of curvature contributes to Monet’s goal of promoting perceptions of the characteristics of dynamic movement in nature. In Braque’s painting, however, viewers are given to witness many lines that are vertical or horizontal. From the straight trunks pointing upward to the smooth outline of houses and the flat path leading to them, this approach of lines showcases the painter’s aim of highlighting the essence of objects. It underscores a priority on using an abstract language emphasized by the philosophy of Fauvism, rather than accurate representations.

Bordighera’s application of colors serves as another formal aspect that substantially differentiates itself from Braque’s “Landscape”. In Bordighera, viewers are led to witness a situation where green trees are flourishing and setting against a background made up of bright sky and blue sea. Within the picture, the large wave of green trees forms a clear contrast with grey trunks, the blueness of the sky and sea water, as well as light yellow buildings. The rich diversity of colors that are presented with different qualities and intensities and materials’ high exposure to the strong sun explains the Impressionist theory of effects of colors on each other and high visibility made by the atmosphere and brightness of light. In Landscape at L’Estaque, viewers’ eye is drawn mostly in pink, red, orange, and yellow colors, all of which help stimulate distorted feelings and massive visual impression. These strident colors delivered in high degrees of saturation embodies prominent features of works of the Fauves over simplification and expressions that transcend beyond mere descriptions and calls for the subjectivity of minds.

Creations of space is another aspect that defines two paintings’ distinctive styles, with each reflecting core values of two different artistic movements. In Bordighera, the hallmark of the impressionist painting regarding loyal exhibitions of modern objects and realistic perspectives is displayed in the work’s properness in constructing the space of pine trees, which are principal objects occupying the foreground, and the rest of the area in the background. This space arrangement delivered in an appropriate proportion significantly enhances the three-dimensional effect and brings about feelings of vividness in the real world. In Landscape at L’Estaque, a notable lack of depth of objects and flattened space are produced to a degree where a sense of ambiguity is fostered as viewers discriminate principle objects from the background that supports them. Largely due to Braque’s adoption of simplistic lines and similar colors in his palette, the edges of trees, small hills, and house roofs are blurred in such an obvious fashion that illusions are created. It provides another opportunity for Braque to reach his purpose of giving unbridled freedom of interpretations and promoting intense emotional response.

By relying on different strategies, in painting their works, Monet and Braque achieves an apparent similarity in terms of their choices of painting subjects and principal images, with each contributes a state of wholeness in their compositions. At the same time, representing differences that separate each painter from the other consists in their creations of lines, colors, and space construction. While Monet engages in capturing real-life features via using subtle lines, affected colors and appropriate space organization, Braque draws a comparison between Monet’s Impressionist exercise and his abstract method of the Fauves. Hence, relatively simpler lines, vibrant colors and a tendency towards ambiguous feelings in perceiving space are adopted. Because of these formal differences, two landscape paintings are established and recognized as two unique artistic pieces that loyally implement their own philosophical principles.