Lucien Hector Monod (paris, 1867 – Cannes, 1957) - The Rain, Circa 1900

Lucien Hector Monod (Paris, 1867 – Cannes, 1957)
The rain, Circa 1900
Oil on canvas
55.5 x 36 cm
64 x 46.5 cm with its frame
Provenance:  the artist's studio

Captured against the light on her doorstep, bathed in an enveloping light no doubt attenuated by the clouds, a young woman has abandoned sweeping her entrance to turn the palm of her left hand towards the sky, in order to catch the first drops of rain. Lucien Monod achieves a tour de force here by suggesting the natural element through the sole suspended gesture, imbued with symbolism, appearing like a prayer. Although it hides all of her features, the lost profile of the female figure underlines the sobriety of her braided hair falling over her shoulders, and reinforces the intimate character of the scene. The painter deliberately chose a vertical and tight framing which evacuates a large part of the environment and allows the eye to focus on the stopped movement of the young woman. By engaging the eye in this ascending dynamic, Monod gives more strength and monumentality to his figure, and thus accentuates the symbolic dimension of his work. Our gaze then shifts to the open space of the garden in the background, like a slightly sloping haven of peace where we seem invited to slip through. Behind the low stone wall, in his vegetable garden of large cabbages, the gardener in overalls stops his work to glance towards the sky, thus reinforcing the narrative force of the gesture occupying the foreground. The composition functions like a snapshot giving us the illusion of a scene captured from life. Although it is possible that Monod used photography, he returns here to a strictly pictorial creative process by using a harmonious chromatic palette quite characteristic of naturalism: cold blues, soft greens noticeably pigmented with yellow, light browns alongside pearl grays. The touch varies between the finely modeled treatments of the foreground, those more synthetic of the garden, and the more fragmented and impressionistic style in the foliage of the upper part. If the subject drawn from the simplicity of a rural daily life is reminiscent of the paintings of Jules Bastien-Lepage, Emile Friant or Emile Claus, Lucien Monod stands out by introducing here an unusual and original point of view, on the border between intimacy and the outdoors, combining the heritage of realism with a certain resolutely modern symbolism.