350 
LITERARY PAPERS 
with such consummate skill as to form a combination in the 
highest degree complex. These pictures are the work of a 
genius, of a master thinker, who feels the power of the infi¬ 
nite, and can reflect it to others. This familiar association 
with the eternal problems, is where the master spirit of Claude 
Monet manifests itself. None in art before him has ever ap¬ 
proached so near the domain of the philosopher. The inflex¬ 
ible principles of geometry give the form to his charming color 
harmonies. The line between the aesthetic and the intellectual 
is so lightly traced in his creations, that the slightest touch 
effaces it, and thus almost proclaims their identity. Nature 
is rendered more lovely by this revelation of her mechanism 
and the sources of her activity, which are clearly brought out 
by study of his pictures; though to those minds unprepared 
for and incapable of grasping the laws of the universe, these 
pictures will offer little of interest. But to the thinker, the 
canvases of Claude Monet are records of what the sensitive 
mind sees in nature. It is not the pitiless laws of growth and 
decay which present themselves, but humanity with its hopes 
and fears shining forth, with which the true soul alone can 
sympathize. 
The compositions of Claude Monet are animated evidences 
of what some one has said, that the true source of knowledge 
can be derived alone from the subjective. He does not paint 
what nature is, or as she presents herself to the ordinary mind 
through the medium of the imperfect senses, but he paints 
those thoughts which she impresses upon him by means of 
subtle forces to which only the sensitive mind responds. 
The idea of triangulation is clearly expressed in the works 
of most of the followers of the Impressionist school. It would 
be difficult for one unacquainted with this school’s teach¬ 
ings to say if this is purely unconscious or by design. It is not 
accidental. Of this there can be no doubt; for in each pic¬ 
ture of Monet’s, as well as of those other painters whose pic¬ 
tures have been studied, the same theory is expressed. The 
attention of the observer is, as a rule, directed along the 
hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle. This fine is used as 
a framework upon which to construct the picture. The lights 
