Claude Monet, the famous French Impressionist painter, never set a foot on the soils of Japan but the country's art played a major role in shaping his style of work. In the 50's, Japan opened its door to the Western trade. The Japanese were eager to modernize themselves so they began to import large amount of goods into Europe. The art scene in France was flooded by the thousands of Japanese prints that entered the country. .
Monet and other Impressionists were engrossed with the Oriental composition of Japanese prints. So different from the paintings in Europe, the Japanese prints were rendered with decorative colours. Monet filled his home with Japanese prints. However, he never hung a Japanese print next to his own painting to compare the two and thought it will be a grand idea to do a Japanese style print. Monet looked at the Japanese prints everyday of his life and soon his view of the world changed. At that time, Monet was looking for a new way to portray modern Paris. The influence of Japanese art allows Monet to break through the traditional form of realistic art which consist of dark tones, very descriptive brushstrokes and a distanced perspective.
The connection between the two art cultures can be seen in Monet's "waterlillies and bridge" series. These art pieces were conceived directly from the scrolls of Japan combined with Monet's own Japanese inspired garden he had built in Giverny. Monet used what he could from Japanese art to capture and depict his visual experiences of a scene. Contradicting the traditional form of realistic art, he painted very abstractly with a wide range of brilliant colours. The infinite space challenges the European convention of linear perspective and results in the floating effect of his works. Monet did not bother with details. Instead, he expressed his view of the world in terms of pure colour, a pure influence of Japanese art.
