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Home » Start With Art: The Magpie by Claude Monet

Start With Art: The Magpie by Claude Monet

September 4, 2014
 
In our mythical leisure, Belovedest and I watch art courses from The Great Courses. Our current course is The World’s Greatest Paintings, in which we studied at some length the beauties of this:

 

The Magpie, by Claude Monet

 

Talk about mixing warm and cool colors to great effect!  I was irresistibly drawn to use this as a Start With Art subject.

 
Note one really interesting innovation that I’m trying: rather than attempt to nail down two specific browns and greys, or one color to represent the damp and frozen branches, slats on the gate, and branches in the fence, I’m working with a spectrum of brown to darkest grey.  Doing this frees you up to build a wardrobe around any color that might be found in the darkest shades of the painting.  And as long as you’re true to the painting (and the thought of wet, frozen branches!), your colors will work well together, creating a palette of neutrals that you don’t see everyday!
 
 
Darkest grey with lightest blue:

Grey sweater – Marni, scarf – Lieke Van Opstal, jeans – J Brand, boots – Aetrex, oxford shirt – Uniqlo, pinstriped trousers – Vanessa Bruno, blue necklace – Lee Renee, oxfords – Paul Green

 
Warm, faded terracotta from the building in the painting, paired with brown or warm charcoal grey:
 

Apricot sweater – Carven, ballet flats – L’Amour Des Pieds, cropped brown jeans – Dolce and Gabbana, charcoal dress – Raquel Allegra, organza scarf – Yuh Okano, suede pumps – Stuart Weitzman

 
 A touch of snow, with more warm charcoal, a softer grey tunic, and a few accessories:
 

White cotton shirt – Mint Velvet, white and grey pearl necklace – Duanpen Tajunin, charcoal cardigan – Theory, tweed skirt – Planet, suede pumps – Stuart Weitzman, grey tunic – Mint Velvet, grey pearl earrings – Fermin, scarf – Roffe Accessories

 
This would easily work for a 3 or 4 day trip that combined business and leisure:

 

Grey sweater – Marni, scarf – Lieke Van Opstal, jeans – J Brand, boots – Aetrex, oxford shirt – Uniqlo, pinstriped trousers – Vanessa Bruno, blue necklace – Lee Renee, oxfords – Paul Green,  apricot sweater – Carven, ballet flats – L’Amour Des Pieds, cropped brown jeans – Dolce and Gabbana, charcoal dress – Raquel Allegra, organza scarf – Yuh Okano, white cotton shirt – Mint Velvet, white and grey pearl necklace – Duanpen Tajunin, charcoal cardigan – Theory, tweed skirt – Planet, suede pumps – Stuart Weitzman, grey tunic – Mint Velvet, grey pearl earrings – Fermin, scarf – Roffe Accessories

 
love,
Janice
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09.04.14 14 Comments

Tags: blue, brown, business travel, grey, peach, Start with Art, white
<<A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Burgundy, Pearl Grey, Black and Petrol BlueA 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Bright Gold, Tomato Red, Olive and Camel>>

Comments

  1. Gail says

    September 4, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    Beautiful, wearable, mindful, inspired. I've been struck, Janice, as I've paged my way through the mega-fashion magazines of September by how much more beautiful and useful your blog pages are than anything else!

    Reply
    • eclair says

      September 4, 2014 at 1:28 pm

      I agree with you Gail. Much more useful than the current fashion mags

      Reply
  2. Cornelia says

    September 4, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    This is stunning. You find the most beautiful clothes and color combinations.

    Reply
  3. cheryl :) says

    September 4, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    Beautiful painting and amazing interpretation of course! You astound me. :)

    Reply
  4. Virginia says

    September 4, 2014 at 1:31 pm

    Perfect timing! My winter wardrobe colors are the gray and brown spectrum with the lighter blue, but I've been struggling with an accent color. This apricot/light terra cotta is perfect! I've always found the delicate colors of winter to be so beautiful and this painting captures that softness. (Why yes, I do actually like winter.)

    Reply
  5. Pam @ over50feeling40 says

    September 4, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    it is always my favorite posts of yours when you start with art! Thanks Janice!

    Reply
  6. Madame Là-bas says

    September 4, 2014 at 2:59 pm

    Every day you amaze me and free me from thinking that I have to purchase something. I already have so many unexpectedly lovely combinations in my closet. You inspire me to see the colours with a different,more subtle eye. That truly is art.

    Reply
  7. Shreddie says

    September 5, 2014 at 1:46 am

    This one is beautiful–cools and warms.

    Reply
  8. Grammy Goodwill says

    September 5, 2014 at 12:13 pm

    I rarely comment – I don't know if I ever have actually. But this post is just amazing. I don't know how you do this. I really enjoy seeing all of the color combinations you put together and the clothes you find. Thank you so much for providing this for all of us.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous says

    September 5, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    So elegant! The deep charcoal grey is a wonderful base colour. I also love the apricot! In fact my wardrobe is slowly evolving into a grey/brown base plus as accents any colour in the spectrum between apricot and blue-greens (so yellows, greens, aqua green, etc). This is a post I will bookmark for future reference – many thanks for the continuing inspiration!
    Alice

    Reply
  10. Eleanorjane says

    September 6, 2014 at 10:00 am

    That is a truly beautiful painting and it's inspired some lovely combinations – very elegant! Your choices would work well on a cool blonde, I think.

    Reply
  11. LauraH says

    September 6, 2014 at 3:46 pm

    A beautiful post. I love the subtle interplay of colour. Also wanted to thank you for sharing your thought process in many posts. I would never have thought of reflecting the pattern and flow of a scarf in my jewellery if not for you.

    Reply
  12. Karen T. says

    September 8, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    So, so beautiful. I love the painting and the clothes you've chosen to express it. This is inspiring my entire fall/winter wardrobe! Thank you, Janice.

    Reply
  13. Lisbet says

    September 12, 2014 at 6:15 am

    Breath-taking. I imagined different scenarios I might encounter on my own trip next week and realized, you have it all covered beautifully!

    Reply

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The Vivienne Files is a unique personal style blog with carefully-selected capsule wardrobes based on color palettes drawn from works of art, nature, and more. It helps women buy less clothing, and to love what they buy. Read more...
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