The Japanese: Claude Monet, 1876 Claude Monet's life-size oil painting of his wife Camille in The Japonaise is kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, depicting her dressed in a Japanese kimono and surrounded by paper fans. It stands out against the blue background, composed mainly of cool blue tones. In terms of depth perspective, it's hard to tell where the blue-painted wall ends and the tatami-style tiled floor begins, other than the presence of a deep cerulean stripe separating the two. The viewer is encouraged to accept this strip as a molding in the wall or a paint border in the room lining the edges of the "rug", alluding to the dimensions of the room in which Camille poses. This background is further decorated with circular paper fans, with thin yellow or black handles. The images displayed on these fans all consist of Japanese motifs, ranging from elegant white birds, fish, flowers, peaceful seascapes or images of Japanese women dressed in traditional costumes. Like the rest of the background, Monet uses a primarily pastel color palette to depict these fans, which contrast greatly with Camille's red kimono. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Camille stands out against this cool background in her bright red kimono, the warm colors of which immediately draw her to our attention as a center of interest of this table. Her traditional-style kimono hangs from her slender chalk-colored arm, in which she holds an extended fan. The interior of the fan is painted with the repeating pattern of the colors red, white and blue, which make up the majority of this painting. Additionally, the kimono hangs not only from her upper body but also from the ground, spreading out like a fan (this is reflected in the fan she holds in her hand and the fans that rest randomly on the ground and which are pinned to the wall behind her). on the tiled carpet. The kimono itself appears to be trimmed with gold, blue, and red threads, showcasing what appears to be an embroidered Japanese warrior at its center. With tufts of ebony hair sticking out in all directions from beneath a powder blue and yellow-gold cap, he is adorned in a similarly colored costume and holds an unsheathed sword in his folded hands. Her constantly sullen face looks away and in the opposite direction to Camille's, pointing to the left of the painting. What is interesting to observe here is Monet's deviation from the soft lines and folds of the kimono, the warrior's right arm being depicted in such a way that it seems to extend beyond the confines of her outfit and into the three-dimensional space of the surroundings. Beneath the intricate golden swirls of the warrior's costume on the kimono is what appears to be a dragon, with strands of yellow-green thread that suggest its arms, legs and claws, and a piece of silky fabric embroidered with golden swirls of wire that the spectator can consider to be his lower body. In this lower half of the kimono, Monet uses a shift in light and color to show the folds of the robe spread out on the floor, returning to lighter whites and pinks to illustrate the folds in contact with the threaded border of the kimono. . Returning to the top half of the dress, green and blue leaves and flowers edged in gold complete the fighter's costume and the dragon image beneath. Looking at the features of Camille herself, her blonde hair is almost as yellow-gold as the thread on her kimono, and is accented by a few brown strands twisted into a hairstylecurled on top of his head. Her head is coquettishly tilted back and she makes direct eye contact with the viewer, or in this case, the painter, her husband. Looking at this painting in person, it's obvious that Monet accentuates her rosy nature and rosy cheeks with the addition of thick patches of pink paint, which don't blend in very well with the rest of her face. On the other hand, the rest of his face is chalk colored and tinged with green; these cool green spots complement her blonde hair and the green and gold colors appearing on her kimono. As for her other features, Monet highlights Camille's European qualities through her defined black eyebrows, delicate nose, and thin, red lips. Here, European and Oriental facial features and body types are contrasted through the likenesses of Camille and the warrior featured on her dress. This is emphasized in the sharp distinction between his outlined features and his large nose, bushy eyebrows and large black eyes. In this allusion to French fashion for Japanese culture, Monet creates a visual intersection between Western and Eastern cultures through La Japonaise. By thematically centering the painting on Japanese motifs, as evidenced by the kimono and fans, he commits a kind of cultural appropriation through the flirtatious depiction of Camille. It can even be suggested that her position in the painting can be inferred as being a mirror of a sensual Geisha. Thus, like other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, it is evident that Monet was inspired by the work of Japanese artists and studied Japanese prints in the creation of La Japonaise. In a letter to his sister in 1888, the post-Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh suggested that by "working in tropical countries...you will be able to form an idea of ​​the revolution in painting by thinking, for example, to the brightly colored Japanese paintings that we see everywhere, to the landscapes and the characters.” (Bullet 31). Monet employs the use of these bright primary colors in La Japonaise with emphasis on Camille's red kimono. Departing from the cool pastel colors we see in the background and in the majority of his later works, the bright red acts as a stark contrast between the rest of the objects in the painting. This contrast draws our attention even more to the warrior depicted on the kimono than to Camille, who is considered the main attraction and figurehead of this work. Moreover, one could even say that the seductive effect of red makes her chalky complexion and yellow hair fade into the background and is a less visible element of this painting. Likewise, the same effect is evident in terms of the environment; the viewer's focus on the red dress makes the cold blue wall less interesting and less eye-catching than the multi-colored patterns of the kimono. Van Gogh goes on to talk more about this "Japanese-style simplification of color" (Chipp 32) noting in an 1888 letter to his colleague Emile Bernard how "they wonderfully express the dull, pale complexion of a young girl and the spicy contrast of black hair by means of white paper and four strokes of the pen.” (Bullet 33). In La Japonaise, Monet conforms to Van Gogh's assessment of Japanese prints in his repeated use of the same three colors (red, white, and blue) to depict Camille wearing the kimono. Although he still retains his rapid impressionistic brushstrokes and color transition using light, this work differs from his later works in that it moves closer rather than away from reality, as this would be common among other impressionist works of the period. Thus, by using repetitive color blocks,.