Revisited Monet & Impressionists last weekend, I agree with that the Impressionist even though is so many decades apart from us, however their art has some contemporary feel which will never become out of date or make you lost.
The cultural historian Walter Benjamin stated that" the method of Impressionist painting, where a picture is assembled in a riot of flecks of colour, reflects the kind of experience to which the eye of a big-city dweller has become accustomed".not only the snapshots but also the linearity of the time in the Impressionists or should I specifically note Monet had endowed the viewing experience transcendent.
I have already been familiar with the idea of the Impressionist, where the revolution they effected in art was a "revolution of liberty and light".Andre Masson ackownledged that Monet's work is "Sun-loving, he saw luminosity everywhere, even in shadow, and there was nothing black in the festival he brought along with him, not even coal."
You are totally immersed in the sunlit garden in "Camille Monet and a child in the artist's garden in Argenteuil" and
" Flower beds at Vetheuil".
With the exceptional plein-air painting skills, the Impressionists transformed landscapes into a sensation not merely landscapes, this connects our feelings & emotions which are so close to the nature. The vividness, the colour, dabs of thick brush strokes had created the powerful images such as "Seacoast at Trouville 1881".A  part of the  influences are also from  Japanese print, there  is such a close line reflection of the paintings such as Utagawa Hiroshige I's "Kai Province: Monkey Bridge japan, edo period 1853" comparing to "Seacoast at Trouville".There are also strong mimicking of the "Yokkaichi: mie River" & "Hakone: view of the lake" by dissolving yourself in Monet's "Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in winter 1875" & "port-Goulphar, Belle-Ile 1887".
The best of Monet's I think is the haystacks & Rouen Cathedral facade adn Tour d'Albane series, they are the ones which
brings you through the passage of time through mutation of colour, tonality and texture. Monet's waterlily & japanese bridge again is the all time favorite of the whole exhibition, unfortunately it's hard to transport the whole huge mural like series of the waterlily pond to Australia therefore never get the once in a life chance to hug these ones.
Hope I will be able to view the whole piece one day!:)