the reds at either side, which come forward. The light areas seem to correspond to sunlight filtering through the foliage and flowers, and the thick impasto technique plays an important role here. The paint has been built up until it stands off the surface of the picture and is made to suggest the rich appearance of texture created when light penetrates fitfully through a dense thicket. Unlike in paintings that are abstract, Monet wants the spectator to be aware of the subject, so that the imagination is stimulated to sense the atmosphere of what it must be like to stand in a tunnel of roses. The viewer is aware constantly that he is looking at paint on canvas, because the surface is so opaque.In Manet’s Concert in the Tuileries, the artist uses strong, natural light, which falls directly on his figures. His use of white or pale-tinted ground strengthened the flat, pale areas in the painting. These contrast with the liberal use of black, employed here to portray the elegance of the dandies’ dresses. Straight black was something that academics were trying to avoid; its absolute presence disturbed gentle harmonies. Ambroise Vollard recalls Pissarro’s comments on Manet: “Manet was greater than us; he was able to make light out of black” .The uneven feel in Manet’s work also stems from his use of colour. A surprising effect greets the eye as it moves unexpectedly over the canvas from white to black shapes, combined with primary hues. The figures are worked directly onto the white ground, with little preparatory under painting. The sharp wet-in-wet application of colours with a loaded brush contrasts with the thin translucent laying in of the background greens, and this helps the eye to distinguish between foreground and background. The heads are painted with lively brushstrokes in simple slabs of light and dark, which gives a dynamic immediacy to the form and captures the feeling of being in the crowde...
