Proust considered painting a lens with which to observe and describe the outside world; as such, he wanted his writing to be a form of painting. He was an expert art critic and chose specific painters and styles to influence and form his prose. Marcel's fascination, for example, with the architecture and natural landscape in and around Combray recalls the works of impressionist painter Claude Monet, as do the references to water lilies and flowered fields. Proust also adopts Monet's fascination with the variations of sunlight on church facades.
While describing the Combray church steeple, Marcel first feels the inspiration to write down what he sees when he notices the changing shape and texture of the roof tiles in the changing sunlight. This passage evokes a series of Monet paintings of the Rheims cathedral at different times of day.
http://proustarchive.org/normandy.php#3 from essential proust
 |  |  | ||
Source: Marcel Proust Gesellschaft |
Source: Marcel Proust Gesellschaft |
Source: Library of Congress | ||
 |
 |  |  | ||
Source: Library of Congress |
Source: Marcel Proust Gesellschaft |
Source: Library of Congress | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: Musselburgh Grammar Schoo |
Source: Library of Congress |
Source: Cabourg Web | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: Cabourg Web |
Source: Sur les chemins de Normandies |
Source: Marcel Proust Gesellschaft | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: Village Guillaume le Conquerant |
Source: Dives-Sur-Mer.com |
Source: Village Guillaume le Conquerant | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: Library of Congress |
Source: Library of Congress |
Source: Library of Congress | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: The Artchive |
Source: The Artchive |
Source: Library of Congress | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: The Artchive |
Source: My Normandy |
Source: My Normandy | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: Art and Architecture |
Source: My Normandy |
Source: My Normandy | ||
|
 |  |  | ||
Source: Art and Architecture |
Source: Art and Architecture |
Source: Art and Architecture | ||
|
 |  | |||
Source: Library of Congress |
Source: Library of Congress |
