Focused and Unfocused: The Eyes of Monet by Orlando Bartro
In the lovely Terrace at Sainte-Adresse (1867), painted when Monet was twenty-seven, everything is in focus—even the masts of the ships in the distance are distinct, even the ribs of the umbrella.
Only three years later, when Monet was thirty, he painted The Hotel des Roches at Trouville (1870).
Here it is.
Why is the flag at the top left only a red-and-white-striped blotch?
Imagine you are in this painting. You are walking on a bright day toward the hotel on the right, intending to climb the steps behind the hatted man in bright white slacks—the most distinct figure not only in the painting, but also in your vision. When focusing on him, and on the steps behind him, everything farther from this focal point is less distinct, and the flag that is flying over your left shoulder, just as you’re about to pass it, is only a striped blur of red and white.
Monet is painting how your vision actually operates, how objects at the edges of your focus are distorted. He is painting what vision really looks like!
* Orlando Bartro is the author of Toward Two Words, a comical & surreal novel about a man who finds yet another woman he never knew, usually available at Amazon for $4.91.