Antibes, Afternoon Effect - Claude Monet Magnet

Antibes, Afternoon Effect - In early 1888 Monet went back once more to the Mediterranean shores, four years after his first trip to the Riviera. He stayed at Ch‚teau de la PinËde, a noble residence that had been turned into an artists' centre: he was welcomed there on the recommendation of Maupassant, whom he met on one of his trips to the Normandy coast. After scouting around the area for two days, he found a few subjects, especially the views of Antibes town from Juan-les-Pins. 'I am painting Antibes as a small fortified town glistening golden in the sun, and standing out against the beautiful blue and pink mountains.' When his initial attempts presented him with problems, Monet immediately became fixed on the idea of returning to Giverny, but he ended up staying in Antibes for five months. Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant).