We received the photo below this morning, from one of the artists represented by Agora Gallery. Susan Marx was taking advantage of the weather and the lovely plants and flowers in bloom at this time of year, and was painting the wisteria in the Van Vleck Garden in Montlcair, New Jersey.
The Van Vleck house was built in the late 19th, early 20th century, although the style is classical, and it was blessed with a succession of Van Vlecks who shared an interest in gardening and horticulture of all sorts. The result is that, the house and grounds having been turned over to a community foundation in 1993, the public is able to visit and enjoy the results of the Van Vlecks’ labor, while non-profit organisations benefit from the use of rooms in the house.
More interesting for us, of course, is the fact that this example of past elegance can serve as a site of present inspiration. Susan Marx could, doubtless, have found wisteria elsewhere if she so desired, but what was special here was the unusual and attractive setting. This is something that appears in some of her other work as well, for example the painting of the Ancien Hotel Baudy in Giverny (below).
So I am wondering – how important is it to artists to have appealing or otherwise notable surroundings as they work? In some cases, this seems to answer itself. Did Monet need his garden, or would a tenement block have done as well? Obviously, for him and for the Impressionist movement, scenery was key. Even if they painted effects rather than details, they did most certainly paint from life. But then the key thing here is that they were focusing on precisely what was in front of them and could be captured no other way – the overall impact and sense of the scene before them. What if you’re capturing a detail which could easily be viewed elsewhere, in a less attractive setting?
I honestly don’t know the answer to this, though I suspect it varies considerably depending on the artist. I know some artists prefer to stick to their studio when they’re actually painting or drawing, but will work from sketches taken out of doors, or a photograph snatched in the middle of a journey. In that case, is the original setting still inspirational?
I’ve heard from abstract artists that sometimes they will be enthused by a particular scene or detail in the natural landscape, and that this will act as the core of their work – but that a physical representation of the feature is not necessary when they in fact begin to work. On the other hand, some also say that when they’re frustrated with a piece, taking it outside and continuing work there can be the key which unlocks their ‘artist’s block’. In this case, the setting is important in a different way – rather than acting as direct inspiration, it acts indirectly, to allow creativity to flourish.
It strikes me as a fascinating question – the role that an artist’s surroundings play in the artistic process. Comments? Thoughts? I’d love to hear them and find out if there is a pattern, or if it is a personal element, like so much in art, which can only be worked out by the individual.
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What a beautiful garden.
I believe Bonnard always painted what was in his immediate environment.
With such beautiful results, the ocean has been that muse for me for many years.
I read your blog and have been thinking about it, and honestly I just don’t think there’s any one process that’s more or less conducive to making art, I think its all very personal. What I am certain of, however, is that is it wasn’t for the people at Agora (and others like them) so many of us would never have the confidence to even try.
This reply is from Susan Marx, the painter who is in the article.
For me, there is nothing more inspiring that to work en plein air, on the spot, spontaneously, using the immediate visual effects that I find in front of me. That is the way I get my painting to speak to me as I paint. I am in communication with painting itself as much as from what is directly in front of me.
It is a dialogue between nature, the eye and the mind. I paint grass better when I can smell it as I paint it for when I do, I am immersed in that landscape totally and can react to it with all of my senses and all of my emotions.
I just returned this afternoon from a week of painting in Normandy. Among the sites where I painted were the cliffs at Etretat and the Rouen Cathedral. I have seen Monet’s paintings many times. But I now can fully understand them after painting my own paintings at those same sites. I needed to paint my reactions to those same visual stimuli.
As for whether Monet “needed” a beautiful subject to begin with.. Of course not. Was a haystack every “beautiful” before Monet taught us to see a haystack? One of the roles of the artist is to teach people to see.
But sometimes the inspiration DOES come from the place. Last week I was in Normandy painting and on June 3, I had the opportunity of being able to paint the Rouen Cathedral from the same room from which Monet painted his series. How can not be inspired standing in the footsteps of Monet to paint a Marx.
I loved to paint outside but sometimes people come and are asking constantly questions and as art for me is working like meditation- it starts being ennoying even though people is nice and friendly. So I started to take pictures when I had enough practice to feel” the colours and sense the energies without being “en pleine air”- it´s that i am sensitive enough to go into the energies of things even though they are not there anymore. it is really nice to paint outside but if you live in a country where the weather can change quickly and therefore the light as well you have to hurry up with the painiting.
When I paint abstract paintings i have the opposite experience to what you wrote about other artists- I often start by concrete and then it seems too unexiting to me so I go into the abstract and out of the abstract I refind concrete forms again.
Susan – what a pleasure to be the your garden of peacefilled colors at this time of the year. Loved your paintings…have always. With love…Namastay