HALAGE D'UN BATEAU, HONFLEUR

There was a fine drizzle in the air this morning. It soon turned into light rain and I flicked open my umbrella. I quite like using an umbrella; I like the sound of the rain on the canvas and the feeling that a simple bit of engineering has kept me from getting wet.

You might argue that not facing the prospect of getting wet at all is much better of course. Agreed.

Speaking of getting wet, today's Monet Du Jour turned out to be Halage D'un Bateau, Honfleur, painted in 1864. It features three characters in the sea, pulling in their boat at sunset. It's another of my favourites - I've been trying to figure out why.

I think it's the mood that's created by the colours. Monet's secret weapon is colour, I think. Here, on the shores of La Manche, in the wet sand of Honfleur, he's managed to capture that end-of-the-day feeling really well - just with contrast and colour. I really like the way the light catches the waves - you can almost hear them gently lapping round the boat, seeping back into the ocean as the men struggle with the wet, heavy rope.

I should point out that I'm not really an art expert. I just know what I like and I love trying to figure out why. I'm sure a more qualified arty person would point out a thousand more things - the importance of the lighthouse to the painting's structure, the technique used for the clouds which eventually helped shape Impressionism, Monet's lifestyle perhaps as a 24-year old in Northern France. Why was he there? What was he doing? What could those three men see as they hauled in the little boat? A young man with an easel and a palette, barefoot in soggy sand?

And that brings me on to another thought - the intimate connection between the artist and you. The painting becomes a kind of conduit between what he saw and what you see. You can't help getting your feet wet.

I guess that idea is true of all art though, so I'll leave the philosophical meta-narrative for another day and carry on pondering it. Maybe I'll think about it on my way home... in the rain.