WEBVTT

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(piano music playing)

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Beth: I put myself in the
position of these figures

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on this cliff and I almost feel that wind

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whipping around me and my instability

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on this cliff as a result.

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Steven: I can hear the cloth
on my shirt just whipping.

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I think we're ready for
the sound effects now.

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(wind blowing)

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Not a good idea. Monet doesn't need it.

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We have this brilliant summer day,

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we're on a cliff walk in a seaside resort

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in northwestern France
on the English Channel,

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we see these two women
... This is just a lovely

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image of people walking
on a path in nature.

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Beth: Well, I think the fact
that we immediately say,

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"I know what this moment is like"

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is indicative of the
fact that Monet is doing

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something that we still do today.

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We go on vacation at the seaside.

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It's lovely to go for a
walk along the clifftops

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and feel the wind and look out to the sea.

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Steven: We're still part
of the modern world,

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that he lived in and so there
is a real sense of immediacy

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and that comes across
in the brush strokes.

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So it's his hand moving across the canvas,

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but it's also the wind
whipping through the grasses

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at the top of this cliff.

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Beth: And yet all of
that is also rounded by

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these two vertical features
that we see of the rocks

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that mimic the verticality of the figures.

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Steven: And look how he's
used those cliff faces

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to create a sense of the
brilliance of the day.

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They are in deep shadow.

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The contrast is so sharp,
it reminds us of when

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there's sort of a glare from the sun.

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But even though the
painting seems completely

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spontaneous, in fact, it
was carefully crafted,

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we know from Monet's letters that when he

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painted these images, and he painted about

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a hundred of them ...

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Beth: Of these scenes
of the Normandy coast

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in the early 1880s.

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Steven: He would go back
and go back and go back

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to them ... ten ... fifteen,
sometimes even twenty times.

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Beth: And so there really
are layers of paint

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and when you get up close,
you can see those layers.

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There is this conflict
between that the spontaneity,

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the momentariness of this
scene and the way that he

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really worked to achieve that effect.

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Steven: Let's step up. Let's
look really closely at this.

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So sometimes you see areas where
the paint is still very fresh.

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Remember, this is oil.
It doesn't dry quickly

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and you can see how
he's painting wet paint

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on top of wet paint.

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Beth: So if you paint wet paint over wet,

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you're going to smear the under layer.

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Steven: And you can see
that, if you look especially

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at the women up on the cliff.

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Look at their dresses.
Do you see, for instance,

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in the woman that's close
to us, the way in which

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there's that white at the
bottom of her dress ... I mean,

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look at the way that the
bell of the dress is pushed

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up against the back of her
legs, really giving you

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a sense of that wind.

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and then the strokes are actually moving

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in that direction, as well,
but look at that way in which

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the white pushes down into the
red and picks some of it up.

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So this is wet paint that
is pushing other wet paint

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across that surface.

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Beth: We could see that, too,
in the figure in the background

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where the white that
he's added on top of the

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red color of the parasol is
smearing that red under layer.

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Steven: That's right and that
is really different from,

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for instance, the horizon line.

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You'll notice that there's a
cool almost jade-like green,

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but you'll also notice
that there are areas where

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the paint seems to skip
over an under layer

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and that under layer of even paler green

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was dry and actually
had still ridges in it

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and so when he drew his brush across it,

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it picked up those ridges.

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So this is wet paint over dried.

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Beth: It's just this incredible
knowledge of his materials

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and what he needs to
do with those materials

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for him to achieve the effect
that he wants to achieve.

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Steven: Well, that's right.
I think he's there for a

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[freed] to really pay
attention to what he's seeing.

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Beth: This is a painting that's
about the pleasure of seeing.

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It's a tourist moment.

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These figures are enjoying
their walk along the cliff.

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They're looking out at
this lovely picturesque

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landscape of cliffs and sea
and sky and the clouds moving.

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We have this visual pleasure
and they're experiencing

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visual pleasure.

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This is about looking in the modern world,

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a kind of experience of
being a middle-class person

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at their leisure on holiday,
something that we can all relate to.

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Steven: But painted in
a way that brings us in,

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in a wonderfully intimate and direct way,

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so that we feel the wind, too.

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(wind blowing)

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(piano music playing)