Winter Sun at Lavacourt, Claude Monet
Fully bathed in a peaceful pink light, Winter Sun at Lavacourt was painted in the heart of winter. The composition is simple, structured around the high horizontal line that corresponds to the opposite bank of the Seine. The village in the background both separates and connects the two contrasting elements of sky and water. The long, even and parallel brushstrokes executed in the lower section of the painting accentuate the horizontal nature of the composition. The painting features a strong division, with unpainted canvas showing through in the reserved areas. The colour harmony of the landscape stems from the contrast between two complementary colours, orange and blue, in keeping with the laws of optics on the decomposition of light that have governed the work of colourist painters since Delacroix.
