Review of Monet's "bouqet de soleils"

Claude Monet credits his love of gardening to becoming a painter. In his 1881 painting "Bouqet de soleils" there is a vase of sunflowers on an orange tablecloth. The color scheme is cool and pale with the flowers being the focal point. The leaves drip down, contrasting the reaching upwards the flowers seem to do. The bouqet is the central focal point, and takes up almost the entire canvas.The backround is blue and gray with the staccato brush strokes adding a hazy quality to the painting. The play on light is impressive, although it has no real movement. Although the painting is pretty to look at, it is momentary. The audience gets a distinct feeling that although the painting itself is brillant in technique and in execution, you get no sense of the artist. Beyond the first moment of pleasant admiration, there is nothing, no motive, no strong feeling that it evokes. I suppose this has little to do with the impressionist style of painting, as the focus is one of capturing light and movement. However this is precisely why most of Monet's paintings seem dull and lack imagination. Flowers are pretty but they belong outside, not on a canvas in my dentist's office.