Assembly of Perception: Cathedral of Constructs

Claude Monet’s  Rouen Cathedral, Façade (1894) was a profound exploration of the interplay between permanence and ephemerality, solidity and fluidity. Through Monet's masterful brushstrokes, the iconic Gothic façade was transformed from solid stone into waves of shifting colors and fleeting moments of atmospheric illumination. The cathedral became more than a static architectural monument; it became a living entity, continuously recreated by the interplay of sunlight, shadow, and human perception. Monet’s intent was not merely to depict a building but to capture the transient nature of experience itself—how something so sturdy and eternal could simultaneously embody impermanence, always subject to change in the viewer’s eye.  

In this conceptual reinterpretation, Monet’s impressionistic vision is expanded and amplified through modern elements—symbolic building blocks, suspended in mid-air, evoking notions of endless assembly and disassembly. The vibrant, plastic bricks float effortlessly across the canvas, embodying the playful yet purposeful act of creation, the imaginative act of continually reconstructing perception. Architectural sketches scattered throughout hint at meticulous planning, yet their unfinished state underscores the impossibility of fully capturing the fluid experience Monet so delicately expressed.  

Textural contrasts enhance this interplay: tactile, three-dimensional surfaces resembling crumbling plaster and richly applied paint suggest both decay and renewal, destruction and reconstruction. This juxtaposition highlights Monet’s original fascination with how the passage of time alters perception—structures weather, colors fade, yet new layers of meaning continually emerge.  

Within this artwork, the iconic Gothic arches, intricate carvings, and delicate towers of Rouen Cathedral merge with modern abstractions, becoming a hybrid visual language that exists between realism and imagination. These seemingly incongruous elements coexist harmoniously, underscoring that our perceptions, too, are always a blend of direct observation and personal interpretation.  

As an artist, my intention was to delve deeper into Monet’s fundamental insights on perception—specifically, how we continually build, dismantle, and rebuild the world through our senses and imagination. Just as Monet did not see Rouen Cathedral as static stone but as an ever-changing interplay of light and atmosphere, this reinterpretation sees the cathedral as an ongoing construction, a creative act always in progress. Each floating block symbolizes the fragments of memory, experience, and imagination we use to construct meaning. The architectural diagrams remind us that even our most seemingly stable perceptions have behind them blueprints that are fluid, open to revision and reinterpretation.  

Color, central to Monet’s vision, remains vivid and deliberate here. The golden yellows and deep blues echo Monet’s original palette, yet their brightness is juxtaposed with textures that speak of age and erosion, emphasizing the inherent duality of permanence and impermanence. The colors shimmer and shift, engaging the viewer in an active dialogue, asking one to reconsider how we perceive structures, memories, and even time itself.  

Ultimately, this piece becomes a meditation not just on Monet’s cathedral but on the nature of perception and creativity. It questions the solidity of our world and suggests instead that perception itself is endlessly malleable, a creative act of assembling meaning from fragments. The cathedral remains perpetually unfinished—not as a failure to complete, but as an acknowledgment of perception’s inherently dynamic and ever-evolving nature.