Claude Monet and Johan Jongkind

Claude Monet and Johan Jongkind

Johan Barthold Jongkind was one of the most important artistic influences on the young Claude Monet. Although less famous today than the Impressionists themselves, Jongkind helped transform French landscape painting through loose brushwork, luminous atmosphere and direct observation of nature.

Monet greatly admired Jongkind's ability to capture reflections, changing skies and vibrating light with remarkable freshness. Their artistic connection formed an important bridge between Realism, the Barbizon tradition and the emergence of Impressionism.

This page explores how Jongkind influenced Monet's technique, how their paintings compare, and why many art historians consider Jongkind one of the true precursors of Impressionism.

• Artists Claude Monet, Johan Barthold Jongkind
• Nationality French, Dutch
• Key Influence Atmospheric landscape painting
• Main Subjects Water, skies, rivers, reflections
• Shared Themes Light, movement and atmosphere
• Artistic Importance Precursor to Impressionism
• Legacy Bridge between Realism and Impressionism

Honfleur, Boats and Reflections

One of the clearest ways to understand Jongkind's influence on Monet is through harbour painting. Both artists were fascinated by water, boats, reflections and the changing skies of northern France. Jongkind's views of harbours such as Honfleur helped show how ordinary coastal scenes could become studies of light and atmosphere.

For the young Monet, this was crucial. Jongkind did not simply paint boats and buildings; he made the air around them feel alive. His loose handling, low horizons and luminous skies helped prepare the way for Monet's later Impressionist treatment of rivers, harbours and reflections.

Jongkind's harbour scenes helped prepare Monet for the atmospheric river and coastal paintings that would later define Impressionism.

This canvas, Honfleur, was painted in August-September 1865, during Jongkind's third visit to Honfleur on the Normandy coast, where the younger Claude Monet also worked in the early and mid-1860s. Three years later, in 1868, the critic Théophile Thoré observed:

"M. Jongkind's manner does not appeal to everyone, but it delights all who love spontaneous painting, in which strong feelings are rendered with originality... True painters work at speed, under the influence of impressions."

Théophile Thoré, quoted by The Metropolitan Museum of Art ^[2]

The quotation is striking because it anticipates many of the ideas later associated with Impressionism itself: spontaneity, speed, atmosphere and the direct recording of visual impressions. Jongkind's example helped prepare Monet for precisely this kind of painting.

What to Compare

• Low horizons
  Both artists often give the sky a major role, allowing atmosphere to dominate the composition.
• Reflections
  Water becomes a changing surface of light rather than a flat descriptive element.
• Loose brushwork
  Jongkind's lively handling helped prepare Monet for the freer technique of Impressionism.
• Everyday coastal subjects
  Harbours, boats and rivers are treated as serious artistic subjects.
• Atmosphere over detail
  Both artists care less about exact description than the sensation of light, air and water.

Monet and Jongkind at a Glance

Jongkind's influence on Monet was different from Renoir's or Manet's. He was not primarily a collaborator or rival, but an older example of how landscape painting could become more immediate, atmospheric and observational.

Topic	Johan Barthold Jongkind	Claude Monet
Main Interest	Atmospheric landscape	Atmosphere, light and perception
Favourite Subjects	Harbours, canals, rivers, boats and skies	Rivers, coasts, gardens, bridges and reflections
Technique	Loose, lively Realist handling	Broken Impressionist brushwork
Use of Light	Suggests changing weather and atmosphere	Makes changing light the central subject
Relationship to Impressionism	Precursor to Impressionism	Central figure of Impressionism
Legacy	Bridge between Realism and Impressionism	Expanded Impressionism toward serial painting and abstraction

Timeline: Jongkind and Monet

Jongkind's career began earlier than Monet's, but their paths crossed at a crucial moment in Monet's artistic development. This brief timeline shows how Jongkind's atmospheric example helped prepare the way for Impressionism.

Year	Event
1819	Johan Barthold Jongkind is born in Lattrop, Netherlands.
1855	Jongkind exhibits at the Paris Salon and gains recognition as a marine and landscape painter.
1862	Monet meets Jongkind in Paris and studies his paintings closely.
1863	Monet travels to Normandy and paints alongside Jongkind in Honfleur.
1860s	Monet continues to be strongly influenced by Jongkind's loose brushwork and atmospheric approach to landscape.
1874	Monet helps organise the First Impressionist Exhibition in Paris.
1891	Jongkind dies in La Côte-Saint-André, France.
1926	Monet dies in Giverny.

Visual Timeline

The Education of Monet's Eye

Monet later gave Jongkind one of the most important tributes in the history of Impressionism, saying that it was from him that he received the "definitive education of my eye." This phrase helps explain why Jongkind mattered so much to Monet's development.

Boudin had encouraged Monet to paint outdoors, but Jongkind showed him how much could be achieved through atmosphere, reflections, skies and rapidly changing light. Jongkind's example helped Monet understand that landscape painting did not need to depend on precise detail. It could be built from freshness, movement and visual sensation.

What Jongkind Taught Monet

• See atmosphere, not just objects
  Jongkind showed Monet how sky, water and air could be just as important as boats, buildings or figures.
• Observe reflections
  Harbours, rivers and canals became living surfaces of light and movement, constantly changing with weather and time of day.
• Capture changing light
  Jongkind's quick studies of clouds, mist and shifting skies helped Monet pursue momentary effects rather than fixed appearances.
• Paint freely and rapidly
  Jongkind's loose, economical brushwork encouraged Monet to work with confidence and spontaneity.
• Simplify and suggest
  Detail was less important than the overall impression. This helped shape Monet's later approach to composition and form.

This is why Jongkind deserves a central place in Monet's story. He was not merely a minor precursor to Impressionism, but one of the artists who helped Monet develop the visual habits that would later define his mature work.

FAQs

References

1. Claude Monet, quoted in: Gustave Geffroy, Claude Monet: Sa Vie, Son Œuvre, Paris: G. Crès et Cie, 1922.
2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Johan Barthold Jongkind: The Port of Honfleur,” The Met Collection, View Source.

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