Spanish street artist Pejac has taken to the sea to pay homage to Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise, Brooklyn Street Art reports. The 1872 painting is thought to have started, and given its name to, the Impressionist movement.
Pejac decided to recreate the famous scene using as a canvas the rusty hull of an old ship docked in the harbor of Santander, in northern Spain. In order to do so, Pejac had to paint his piece perched on a small boat, bobbing up and down during low tide.
“Impression, Sunrise is an image that has always amazed me,” Pejac told BSA. “The first time I saw the Monet painting I was surprised by the title as I thought it was actually a sunset.”
In the last few years Pejac has built a solid reputation for his poignant urban interventions—some of which are reminiscent of the work of Banksy. For this project, however, it was the sea, and not the streets, which provided the perfect setting.
“I think that the rusted metallic hull of this semi-sunk ship gives life to the image,” he told BSA. “With the daily sea tides of the Cantabric ocean the work is constantly above and below water. The sea acts as a theater curtain.”
When asked whether he defined himself as a street artist, a muralist, or a fine artist, Pejac claimed to be a mix of the three. “Nevertheless, I am very moved by working in the public space as it is the ultimate form of giving art to people who might have never stepped into a museum or gallery,” he told BSA.