A field near Giverny, autumn 1890. Claude Monet sets up several easels side by side. On each one, the same subject: two large stacks of grain in a field. As the light changes, he moves from one canvas to the next, working on each only while the light matches.
Over the following months, through frost, snow and summer heat, he painted these stacks around twenty-five times. In 1891, he exhibited fifteen of them together at the gallery of his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, in Paris. They sold quickly.
The same subject, never the same painting
Look at them side by side and something strange happens. The haystacks barely matter. What you see is light: pink at dawn, blazing orange at sunset, blue in the shadows of snow, soft and grey in the fog. Monet showed that the same thing is never really the same twice.
He went on to work in series for the rest of his life: poplars, the façade of Rouen Cathedral, and finally the water lilies of his own garden.
Why this is a meditation
Meditation often begins with returning to the same thing: the breath, a word, a candle flame. It sounds repetitive. But anyone who has practiced knows that no two breaths are the same, just as no two haystacks were the same to Monet.
Repetition, done with attention, isn't boring. It's how you start to see.
Try your own series
1. Choose one subject you see every day: the view from your window, a tree on your street, a bowl on the kitchen table. 2. Look at it at three different times today: morning, afternoon and evening. One minute each. 3. Notice what changed. The color of the light, the shadows, your own mood. 4. Record it, if you like. A photo, a quick sketch, three words in a notebook. 5. Repeat it for a week. By the end, you'll know that ordinary view better than you ever have.
Light, all year round
The Digital subscription follows the seasons with you: art, music, books, places and small practices, at least one video each month, photo stories and the digital edition of "(meditating) On Art". A way of noticing how the light changes, month after month.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi