Claude Monet | Lilacs, grey weather, 1873

'Lilacs, Grey Weather' was created in c.1873 by Claude Monet in Impressionism style. It is kept in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

In Lilacs, Grey Weather, Monet used muted colors for the characters, merging them into the background. Where are the legs of the man leaning on the right ? The only thing that catches the eye is the white dress of a woman.

Then, a closer look enables to distinguish the three people thanks to the black and white contrast.

The process is different in Lilacs in the Sun. Spots of light play on the dresses of the two models. Monet applied this effect in several paintings (The Luncheon, Women in a Garden, the Reader...).

The eye is caught by the strong contrasts created by these touches of light colors, then one discovers the face of the young woman on the right-it could be Camille, Monet's wife.

This time the characters are integrated into the composition by a play on colors that form a cross. The blue dress of the woman on the left refers to the blue of the lilac on the right, the yellow dress of the woman on the right answers the yellow of the trunk and of the bush on the left.

The oblique lines of the trunk underline this crossed composition. The bush leaned towards the people seems to offer its protection. Although the scene is taken in a garden, it doesn't give a formal impression, it looks like a natural landscape, the cahracters are seated on the ground as if they were in wild nature.