Claude Monet Les Coquelicots

This scene from nature contrasts with the recent paintings that Monet had been doing, which were mainly of city subjects. Its soft tranquillity reflects some of the warmth of a summer's day: the figures merge with their surroundings, almot melting into them; the boy at he front of the painting has a body that diappears into the grass, and dress of the woman matches some of the darker shades of grass on the right. Figures that fade into a rural background are entirely appropriate to Monet's views on nature. He felt that nature was not there to serve man but that man was a part of nature. Hence, the figures in this painting are not the main focus. If it were not for the sloping edge of the poppies drawing the eye of the viewer back from the first group of people to the second on the horizon, the figures could be overlooked. The dominant force of this painting is without doubt the poppies. Painted in an almost abstract style, the splashes of red draw the observer's eye at once, despite the fact that roughly half the canvas is given over to the sky, creating a feeling of an airy summer's day. The blue of the sky contrasts with the red of the poppies and ensures that the landscape, as opposed to the people, leaves the strongest impression on the viewer.