The fog? It’s smog. Monet and Turner painted pollution
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“I paint what I see, not what I know,” he replied William Turner to an art critic who accused him of having painted a ship without a porthole. Painter of splendid sunsets, storms, shipwrecks and volcanic eruptions, of that nature which in the works of the great English master becomes less and less clear and foggy over the years. But was this a stylistic choice or was Turner painting a nature that showed the signs of man-made changes and modernity?
To be convinced that in the mists and the mists of his canvases it is possible to trace the signs ofair pollution in the early nineteenth century are now a group of scientists. Researchers who focused not only on Turner’s works but also examined the paintings en plein air Of Claude Monet which portrays the same landscape several times over the years. Moreover, Monet “in letters sent to his wife from London proves to be well aware of the environmental changes around him, even lamenting the absence of new industries that ignite his creativity,” the researchers write. “Everything is dead, no train, no smoke or boat, nothing to excite a little la verve”, Monet confided to his wife who remained in France.
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On the canvases the story of air pollution
On the canvases of the two great masters of the Romance and ofImpressionism, one English the other French, would therefore be imprinted with the signs of pollution. Those skies of Paris And London, the cities where the two painters were born, who arrive on the canvases transformed by the industrial revolution. The original study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and analyzed the changes in style and color in nearly 100 paintings: 38 by Monet (from 1864 to 1901) and 60 by Turner (from 1796 to 1850). Coming to the conclusion that the works painted by the masters, among the great ones who have used light and its changes in their style, today allow us to trace a sort of history of atmospheric pollution. Through the analysis of their landscapes, they explain, it is possible to obtain the quantity of smog present in the atmosphere when the paintings were made. “Because pollutants can severely alter the appearance of landscapes even in ways visible to the naked eye,” reads the study. For example, Turner, born in the age of sails in 1775, died in the age of coal in 1851.
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Haze or smog
Climate and atmospheric scientists have observed that the skies painted by both Monet and Turner have become increasingly foggy over the years. However, according to them, it would not be just an artistic choice but, at least in part, that change of style would be due to the increase in sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, showing a completely different sky after 1850.
“Because even if impressionism is often contrasted with realism, according to our research there is no doubt that the works of Monet and Turner also capture a certain reality” explains the co-author of the study Peter Hubers climate scientist and lecturer at Harvard University. It is no coincidence that the researchers have focused precisely on the painters known to be the most sensitive to changes in light and environment. He was keen to point out Anna Lea Almright atmospheric scientist and lead author of the study: ‘It stands to reason that they are also sensitive not only to natural changes, but also to man-made changes.’
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The mathematical model
Using a mathematical model they observed how sharp the outlines of objects were against the background and the intensity of the haze in the paintings painted over the years by the two painters. And they compared them. The researchers found that 61 percent of the contrast changes in the paintings largely followed the increase in sulfur dioxide concentrations during that time period.
Comparison paintings
Thus the clear sky portrayed in Apullia in “Search of Appullus” which Turner painted in 1814 has been contrasted with “Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway”, painted 30 years later, where misty skies dominate. “Emissions more than doubled during that period,” the study authors explain. The same example of sky can be found in the many paintings that Monet always painted from the Charing Cross bridge where it is noted how much the visibility of the panorama and of the objects portrayed decreases.
Monet lover of modernity
Furthermore, the letters that Claude Monet wrote from London to his wife would provide convincing evidence that he was keenly aware of the environmental changes around him. The art historian James Rubin professor emeritus of art history at Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York explains. “These artists were certainly interested and were in a period of atmospheric change.”
Both Turner and Monet drew inspiration from the surrounding environmental changes, but certainly from different perspectives. Summarizes: Monet was ready to celebrate modernity, which for him marked change. Turner, anti-modern, thus described the train. “Anyone who thinks about what the train looks like can see that it’s nothing more than a furnace on wheels,” he says. By contrast, Monet “reveling in the aesthetic effects of sunlight bouncing off clouds in polluted air and celebrating the spectacle of modern change.”
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