/Clair de lune sur le port de Boulogne MANET
Light In Painting
In this painting, Manet portrayed a night by Port Boulogne with a very bright round moon.
The main light sources are the moon, the stars and the torches on the boats. There is a good mixture of shadow and highlights in this painting. In the foreground, women’s scarves are the hottest spot. One cannot see their body shape nor the clothes as they were completely underlit. The boats and men in the mid-ground are also only painted as silhouettes and the water is bright as it reflects the moonlight. The rest of the painting(except for the moon) appears grey.
I like how the painter tried to make the foreground and mid-ground stand out using high contrast. Manet has beautifully portrayed the “whole picture” of a tranquil night when women were waiting for the sailors’ return. We can see everything that was going on—the women, the sailors, the torches, the many boats by the shore…… One can imagine the sounds of that night and try to feel the peacefulness in those women and men’s hearts.
