Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 6, 2014

B2

THE WORLD AROUND US

Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 6, 2014 


BIRTH OF FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM DATED BY TEXAS STATEÕS ÔCELESTIAL SLEUTHÕ

 The Impressionist movement of the late 19th 
century takes its name from French artist Claude 
MonetÕs moody, dreamlike painting ÒImpression, 
Soleil LevantÓ (ÒImpression, SunriseÓ). Now, Texas 
State University astronomer and physics professor 
Donald Olson has applied his distinctive brand 
of celestial sleuthing to MonetÕs masterpiece, 
uncovering new details about the paintingÕs origins 
and resolving some long-standing controversies over 
what the canvas depicts and when it was painted.

 OlsonÕs findings are published by the MusŽe 
Marmottan Monet of Paris, France, in ÒMonetÕs 
ÔImpression SunriseÕ: The Biography of a Painting,Ó 
the catalog of the museumÕs major Monet exhibition 
running Sept. 18, 2014, to Jan. 18, 2015.

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

 ÒFor several other Monet paintings from Le 
Havre, we can be certain that the artist depicted 
the topography of the port accurately,Ó Olson said. 
ÒÕImpression, Soleil LevantÕ likewise appears to be 
an accurate representation of a sparkling glitter path 
extending across the waters of the harbor, beneath a 
solar disk seen through the mist accompanying a late 
fall or winter sunrise.Ó

 Monet dated his signature with a Ò72Ó on the 
painting, but some subsequent catalogs dismiss that 
number and date the painting to 1873, assuming that 
Monet had worked in Le Havre during the spring 
of that year. The hazy nature of the image further 
confused the issue, with various sources disagreeing 
regarding the season of the year depicted and the 
direction of MonetÕs view. Several influential art 
historians even insisted that the canvas depicted a 
sunset, not a sunrise. Monet himself helped to resolve 
some of the uncertainty in an interview from 1898:

 ÒI had submitted something done in Le Havre, 
from my window, the Sun in the mist and a few masts 
of ships in the foreground.... They asked me the title 
for the catalog; it could not really pass for a view of Le 
Havre, so I replied: ÔPut Impression.Õ From that came 
ÔImpressionism,Õ and the jokes proliferated.Ó

 Olson began his work by consulting 19th-
century maps and collecting more than 400 
vintage photographs of Le Havre. One especially 
clear and detailed photograph made it possible to 
identify the precise hotel room from which Monet 
worked. Olson confirmed the view from the room 
to the southeast matched that of the painting and 
subsequently calculated the SunÕs position over the 
harborÑroughly 20 to 30 minutes after sunrise. To 
further narrow the possible dates, Olson then looked 
at the tides. Since the large sailing ships could only 
enter and exit the shallow outer harbor during a few 
hours near of high tide, he used computer algorithms 
to calculate the tides of that era. The result was 19 
possible dates in late January and mid-November of 
1872 and 1873 when the Sun and tides corresponded 
with the painting.

WHATÕS THE WEATHER LIKE?

 Weather reports were the next clue in OlsonÕs 
detective work.

 ÒMeteorological observations allow us to reject 
some of the proposed dates, because of the bad 
weather common on the Normandy coast during 
the late fall and winter months,Ó Olson explained. 
ÒWeather archives also can identify some dates 
when the sky conditions match the appearance in 
ÔImpression, Soleil Levant.ÕÓ

 Six dates remained after eliminating those with 
stormy, rainy or windy weather and heavy seas. To 
narrow the field even further, Olson examined the 
smoke columns rising over the harbor on the left side 
of the painting. The smoke appears to be blowing to 
the right, which would indicate a wind from the east. 
Two remaining dates record an east wind: Nov. 13, 
1872, and Jan. 25, 1873.

 An essay by art historian GŽraldine Lefebvre in 
the exhibition catalog gives reasons for preferring 
the year 1872Ñmatching the original date Ò72Ó 
painted by Monet next to his signature on the 
canvasÑand the combined analysis points to 
Nov. 13, 1872, at 7:35 a.m. local mean time, as 
the definitive date and time when Monet created 
ÒImpression, Soleil Levant.Ó

 

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


COLLECTING RAIN WATER By Christopher Nyerges

 
I was driving along a beautiful street near Sierra Madre, with lined 
with tall deodar trees and almost a rural feel to it. I was admiring the 
beautiful houses and the well-kept gardens and trees, when I noticed it. 
ÒItÓ was totally out of place, though it should be common, something 
to find at every single home. Rain barrels! 

 

 The down-spout of the southwest corner of the house went into a 
rain barrel. I pulled over to get a better look. This was a large plastic 
barrel Ðthe type that IÕd seen used to import pickles into the United 
States. The entire lid could be screwed off to gain access to the water. 
The top had been modified with a screen to remove debris that came 
down from the roof, and a spigot was added to the bottom so one 
could easily use the collected rain water. 

 I had to see the rain barrel up close. I got out of my car and went up to the house, and met the owner 
Carol Kampe who was working in her yard. She happily gave me a tour of her rain collection system. 

It turned out that she had not one, but 10 rain-collecting barrels strategically located to collect the 
most rain from the house 
and garage roofs. Two of 
the barrels were 65 gallons 
each, and the other eight 
were 60 gallons each. 

 

 The rain thus collected is 
used for outdoor purposes 
only Ð watering her fruit 
trees and other plants in 
the yard. 

 ÒGenerally, I have enough 
rain water in my barrels to 
last me until August,Ó says 
Kampe. This means that 
she is able to rely on the 
rain for watering her yard 
for approximately 2/3 of the 
year. She estimates that she 
saves perhaps $300 a month 
in payments to the water 
company. 

 ÒBut I donÕt do this for 
economic reasons,Ó Kampe 
adds. ÒI do it because we 
live in a desert here in 
Southern California. Water 
will become more critical 
as time goes on. So it is just 
a shame to waste all this 
good rain.Ó 

 Kampe has a common-
sense approach to her raain 
harvesting, something that 
is easy to do and is both 
ecological and economical. 

 She was living in her 
home just a few years and 
then purchased seven of the 
rain-collecting barrels. She 
has since added three more. 
The barrels were purchased 
for about $100 each by a 
company that modifies the 
pickle barrels into rain-
collecting barrels. The company also provides hoses so that the barrels can be connected Òdaisy-chain,Ó 
so that the overflow of one barrel fills other barrels. 

 

Rain barrels are not light, and water weighs a little over 8 pounds a gallon. That means a 60 gallon 
barrel full of rain water weighs in the neighborhood of 480 pounds. So when planning a rain collecting 
system like this, one has to recognize that the full barrel is not going to be moved. Other barrels can be 
connected to the barrel under the downspout so that the overflow can be collected in a spot away from 
the house. 

Also, Kampe is able to simply unscrew the lid of her rain barrels and scoop out water as needed for 
individual plants. 

 Kampe laughed at all the current talk about Òliving greenÓ as if it were something new. ÒWe were 
doing all this back in the 1970s,Ó she says, describing how they recycled and collected rain in Indiana. 

 Emphasizing the need to save and conserve water where you have a desert and an ever-increasing 
population, Kampe echoes Santyana, pointing out that Òanyone who doesnÕt read history is doomed to 
repeat it.Ó 

 She has all compact flourescent lights (CFL) in her home. CFLs last about five times as long as 
conventional incandescent bulbs and use about one-quarter the energy. She also has light tubes which 
direct sunlight into the house, which means she doesnÕt need to use electricity for lighting during the 
day. 


Kevin Sutherland of Pasadena examines the rain barrel

 [Nyerges is the author of ÒSelf-Sufficient Home,Ó ÒExtreme Simplicity,Ó and other books. He is a 
proponent of wilderness and urban self-reliant living who has been teaching classes since 1974. He can be 
reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.ChristopherNyerges.com.]