I appreciate Impressionism much more since I had kids. I get what an artist like Monet was trying to do now. Trying to hold on and capture a moment before it disappears into another.
I feel it most in Monet’s series of the same landscape in different light and seasons. The kids and I take the same walk many times a week, and like Monet painting the same scene, I watch it change each time and witness the moments come and go.
When we started on these walks the kids were in strollers. Before long they were tottering and babbling at the cows and horses. Now they speed ahead on their scooters. I try to hold the moments, to memorize them, but they evaporate so quickly.
I’ve started to see paintings on these walks. It’s never a perfect match, but a specific painting will come to mind. Sometimes it’s the mood, color, or perspective. I marvel that my here and now can be connected across time and space with an artist’s there and then. It makes the moment much more precious.
