Experience and Response

I love being at the beach and doing nothing but sitting and observing. My home is only 30 minutes from the Pacific coast but even though I go to the shore frequently, every time I am struck by the vastness of the ocean and the remarkably dynamic quality it has. This painting made me a little nostalgic for the beach at home, an emotion that Monet likely felt as well as he recreated a scene from his childhood.

My experience was centered around three aspects of the painting:

Motion:

The brush strokes intentionally evoke motion in both the water and the sky. In a still painting, Monet expressed the idea that life doesn’t stop and time keeps on going and the world keeps on changing.

Balance:

In the painting, the sea and sky are both active, yet perfectly balanced. This put me at peace, for both are dynamic and changing yet they settle together nicely at the horizon. A peaceful intersection of the two reminded me that all the different chaotic aspects of life still coexist and coincide smoothly.

Vastness:

It made me feel small and insignificant, as the great ocean often does, because of how the sail boat, people on the shore, and town are important features but seem to be dwarfed by the surrounding nature.