Monet/Lichtenstein: Rouen Cathedrals

 With all the justifiable hub-bub about Pacific Standard Time you may have missed the opening of a tiny but super cool exhibit at LACMA - Monet/Lichtenstein: Rouen Cathedrals.

Between 1892 and 1894, Claude Monet painted more 30 views of the cathedral at Rouen in northwestern France.  These are celebrated pictures and you are likely familiar with them.

Monet painted at different times of day, in different seasons and from different vantage points, in an exploration and celebration of the effects of light on the cathedral's facade. 

More than 75 years later, 'pop' artist Roy Lichtenstein painted the same subject.

 Roy Lichenstein, Rouen Cathedral Set III, 1969


 Monet/Lichtenstein: Rouen Cathedrals is a ten canvas exhibit, 5 from each artist. The pairing serves as a conversation across history, a witness to changes in meaning, desire, style and materials. It's lovely, fun and exactly the kind of thing you should take your kids to see.  How better to support their own unique visions, their own ways of doing things, than to show them 2 very different ways of painting the same subject?  The very existence of the work proclaims the still all too radical notion that there is no wrong way to make art.

For a short video about the Lichtenstein paintings, watch this -


Roy Lichtenstein, Rouen Cathedral Set V, 1969 from Smarthistory Videos on Vimeo.

and for a marvelous look at Monet's series click here.

Monet/Lichenstein: Rouen Cathedrals at LACMA runs now through January 1st, 2012.