Monet of the Day: The Church of Varengeville, Morning Effect

Submitted by Evelyn Kiefer on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 00:42.

The Church at Varengeville, Morning Effect is the most powerful work Monet created while on a painting campaign in Varengeville in 1882. The church of Saint-Valery is a Romanesque medieval church, built in the 12th-century, perched dramatically near the edge of  a towering cliff. It has long been a mariners' church and many generations of local fisherman are buried in the cemetery.

   
   
Symbols of the sea, such as shells, were used to decorate the church. This detail shows part of a column in the nave.

 
   
Monet painted the church of Saint-Valery many times, but the fierceness of his brush strokes in this work distiguish it from his other paintings.
 
   
The church of Saint-Valery is famous for its Tree of Jesse stained-glass window designed by the painter George Braque. Braque was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso and a co-innovator of cubism.
 
   

George Braque lived and died at Varengeville-sur-mer. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery of Saint-Valery. Their tomb is decorated with a mosaic inspired by the colors of Normandy.

   
   

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