Major Artist Influences on My Artwork

Growing up, I was initially inspired by seeing reproductions of some artwork by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Jan van Eyck, Jan Vermeer, Constable, Joseph Turner, Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, James Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Salvadore Dali, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, M. C. Escher, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Hans Heysen, Elioth Gruner, and many others.

There were so many really good artists and so many really good artworks. I was very impressed by the excellent portraits and figures that were depicted by many of the artists. However, I did eventually find that it was mainly landscape artworks that captured my imagination and admiration the most.

As I got older, the artworks of two artists seemed to stand out to me as being particularly inspiring; the artworks of Claude Monet, and the artworks of Vincent van Gogh. I think I was also inspired by the stories that I read about the artists’ approaches to producing their artworks and the descriptions of what they were trying to achieve with their artworks.

I really enjoyed the artwork of Claude Monet. I also enjoyed reading about Claude Monet taking his paints, paintings and equipment outside (“en plein air”) to try to capture the real world as he saw it directly in front of him. I know that Monet wasn’t the only artist to have done that, but he seemed to be one of the leaders of this type of artwork production. I particularly liked the subjects that Monet chose and some of the difficult things he attempted. I also understood that he was focused on trying to record what he really saw, rather than on what he may have been told he should depict. I thought that this basic approach of painting was exciting and worth attempting for myself.

With Vincent van Gogh, it was the striking bold brushstrokes, thick paint, interesting use of colours and the interesting images that made his artwork so appealing. I remember seeing many times when I was in my 4th Class classroom in primary school (in 1969), a small print of his painting, “Washer Women near the Bridge at Arles”.

It was fabulous, and it made a big impact on me. I enjoyed the colours, the drawing that he made of the interesting draw-bridge with its counter weights, the little horse-drawn wagon crossing the bridge, the way he painted the many washing women down at the river’s edge, the half-submerged boat by the side of the river, the tall reeds growing near the edge of the river, and how he painted everything glowing in the full sunshine. That painting looked like it was from another world to the one I was living in attending that 4th class classroom (apart from the sunshine); and it truly was from another world! Years later, I read about Vincent van Gogh’s tragic life, and that inspired even more interest in his artwork. I remember getting in my late teens, a book of poster prints of some of the artwork by Vincent van Gogh. I thought the reproductions were excellent, and the written descriptions (I can’t remember who by) were also excellent, and suggested a range of ideas that were very different to the artwork of Claude Monet. I also read that Vincent van Gogh, like Claude Monet, also liked to take his paints, paintings and equipment outside, to work “en plein air” directly from real world subjects.

So this month, I present some of my pieces that were inspired by the artwork of Claude Monet, and some of my pieces that were inspired by the artwork of Vincent van Gogh. I know that when I moved to Adelaide in 1982 to try living as an artist, these two artists had a big hold on my understanding of producing artwork, and my pieces often fluctuated between aspects of the artwork of both of these artists.

8 of my artworks that were heavily influenced by the artwork of Claude Monet:

(The last artwork in this group has links to other artworks from my permanent galleries that were also heavily influenced by Claude Monet)

8 of my artworks that were heavily influenced by the artwork of Vincent van Gogh:

(The last artwork in this group has links to other artworks from my permanent galleries that were also heavily influenced by Vincent van Gogh)