In 1000 words address the question: “Did J.M. Turner’s painting style influence Claude Monet?”

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Influences of J.M. Turner’s Painting Styles on Claude Monet
Painting is an art that has gone a very long history. In the history of humanity, there is a long list of personalities who have played a significant role in the invention, innovation and improvement and development of the art of painting. Whenever a painter comes up with a new idea, it is adopted by subsequent artists who adopt and use it in their artworks. This paper analyzes how Joseph Mallord Turner’s paintings influenced Claude Monet. It does this by focusing on and using examples to illustrate, the painting styles and techniques used by each of these artists.
It is true that Turner had a great influence on Monet. Having lived between the years 1775 and 1851, Turner can be regarded as a predecessor to Monte who was born later in 1840 and juggled with his artwork up to 1926 when he passed on. So, reasonably, Turner must have influenced him. As one of the key figures in the founding of the landscape painting, Turner is credited with the use of painting skills to depict natural scenes. It is because of his love for nature that he often painted natural phenomena like trees, rivers and mountains. A similar approach was adopted by Monet who also had a great passion for nature. His love for nature compelled him to produce brilliant paintings of his immediate environment. This is what was seen in great artworks like the Fruit Trees, Ice Floes, Misty Morning, Farmyard in Normandy and By the Sea.

The styles used in producing these paintings were directly influenced by Turner who had been greatly involved in a similar work (Christopher 24).
Just like Turner, Monte perfected the art of landscape painting. The depiction of natural phenomena in their actual location is a technique that was inspired by Turner. During his time, Turner produced paintings in which he could portray the real image of the object. However, to make them more aesthetic, he also incorporated other objects in the background. For example, in the Rome: the Forum with a Rainbow, the main object conspicuously appears at the foreground. However, at the background, there is an image of the sky. The perfect painting of this scenery made it real and a clear depiction of exactly what happened on the ground. In his later paintings, Monet also adopted the same style in his paintings. In the Road to the Saint-Simeon Farm, Monet ensured that the background of the painting had a collection of all the other objects located behind the road. By doing this, he managed to produce a real artwork that accurately depicted the scenery as it is.
As one of the founding fathers of landscape painting, Turner could not fail to use light in his artwork. Most of the times, he could make a good use of the element of light as an important par of his paintings. To perfect his portrayal of light, he purposed to use water color alongside oil paints. For example, in the Burning of the Houses of Parliament, he used lighting technique to produce a somewhat blurred image in which he skillfully used oil to produce the image of a raging fire (Hardiman and Theodore 159). A similar strategy was used by Monet who also had a great love for light. He preferred to use light colors like yellow, grey and white. At times, he could choose to use opaque colors. An example of artwork in which this technique was applied is Lighthouse at the Hospice. Here, everything comes out so clearly. A blend of light colors helped in producing an appealing piece.
The other way in which Turner influenced Monet is the organization and composition of painting. While dong his work, Turner had to incorporate romanticist ideologies in his artwork. Rather than trying to measure the moods of nature, he sought to include human beings in his paintings. Therefore, he included the component of weather in his artwork and went ahead to organize his pieces in a consistently coherent manner. All his paintings were properly made to ensure that he satisfied his desires to depict the leisure activities as well as the landscape of Paris, the Normandy coast and their immediate environments (Nicholson 79). For instance, in Spring Flowers and the Fontainebleau Forest, he demonstrated his love for beautiful sceneries. Also, in the Fishing Boats and Sailing Boats at Honfleur, Monet was depicting what he had admired at the coast. In all these paintings, the artist did a great job in appreciating nature. All these are landscape paintings pioneered by Turner on whom had relied as a model.
Even if Monet was greatly influenced by Turner, he also had got his own unique styles that he introduced into the painting industry. In his capacity as a creative artist, he made a lot of contributions to the impressionist, a new movement that was to transform art and give it a new image. His love for nature compelled him to reject the painting styles used at that time. His disapproval for the coloring, perspective and composition prompted him to come up with a new idea of using broad brush strokes to produce the desired images. Also, in his arrangement, he did not have a good plan on how to organize his paintings. Instead of working out his sketches like other artists, he chose to begin his sketches at the actual scenes. While doing this, he never had to use a pencil to draw an initial sketch of the object (Stokes 52). This made him differ from other artists like Turner who had been more organized in their paintings. For example, when painting the Water Lilies, he had to keenly study the object then began spontaneously working on it before eventually producing a series of paintings on the similar object. This was a new style he had introduced.
In conclusion, Turner and Monet still remain significant figures in the painting sector. Their innovative and brilliant ideas remain important and applicable in modern day landscape painting. The techniques introduced by Turner in his romanticist landscape painting really influenced Monet a great deal. If it were not for Turner’s love and depiction of his immediate surrounding and the natural phenomena in his artwork, Monet would not have done the same. Indeed, Turner’s landscaping style made a lot of contributions to Monet’s use of light, nature, composition and coloring. It also influenced the thematic concerns captured in Monet’s paintings. Therefore, even if Monet also brought in his new ideas, his work should be credited to Turner whose landscape painting styles had a massive impact on him.
Works Cited
Christopher, Wood. Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape. London: Reaktion Books, 2008. Print.
Hardiman, George and Theodore, Zernich. “Discrimination of style in painting: A developmental study.” Studies in Art Education (1985): 157-162.
Nicholson, Kathleen. Turner’s classical landscapes: myth and meaning. Princeton University Press, 1990. Print.
Stokes, Patricia D. “Variability, constraints, and creativity: Shedding light on Claude Monet.” American Psychologist 56.4 (2001): 355.