Two After Monet, by Jane Blanchard

Boulevard des Capucines, by Claude Monet (France) 1873/1874

Boulevard des Capucines
  
To rent a studio to show and sell
such innovative work was bold and smart
for certain artists wanting to dispel
outdated biases regarding art.
Since arbiters of taste at the Salon
could limit who-with-what came through the door,
these enterprisers ready to move on
would do so in a gallery, third floor.
Yet in the months before the opening 
Monet was captivated by the view
from this same space—Parisians hustling
through wintry weather as they needed to.
Up close, the piece has always looked unfinished;
its impact, further back, is undiminished.

The Break up of Ice on the Seine, by Claude Monet (France) 1880-81

The Break up of Ice on the Seine
  
Some twenty paintings were devoted to
a catastrophic season. Bitter cold
turned warm enough to send wild ice floes through
the countryside. Such forces uncontrolled
pushed talented Monet to represent
as many versions of what he observed
as possible. So hour on hour was spent
creating a collection which well served
his purposes of multiplicity,
perhaps deriving from an inner drive
to justify a life of artistry.
This Frenchman proved himself alert, alive
with variations of the same motif,
all marvelous but none beyond belief.

Jane Blanchard

Jane Blanchard of Augusta, Georgia, enjoys looking at art and writing about art. The sonnet—in all of its manifestations—is her favourite form of poetry. Her latest collection with Kelsay Books is Furthermore.