ABSTRACT
The artistic conventions that Monet challenged emphasized mathematical perspective first developed during the Italian Renaissance, when association with scientific methods lent legitimacy to visual arts previously subordinated to literature. Nature art, rather than being a realm of aesthetic expression for social purposes, increasingly was viewed as individual property or as the embodiment of the ideal of unattainable, inexhaustible perfection. Both Claude Monet and Qi Baishi conveyed emotional and social messages in their work utilizing conventions from their respective artistic legacies as well as by challenging many of those conventions. The original intention of Chinese artistic traditions was to preserve these connections through the work of talented, "superior" men. Love of the garden was at the heart of life and art for both Qi and Monet, When they took up brush to capture or express an aspect of nature's abundance, they each brought similar sensibilities but different artistic legacies to their respective projects.
