Monet 1879-1887
Special Report
Vétheuil
Monet's Vétheuil period (1878–1881) was a pivotal yet turbulent phase in his career. It marked a shift toward deeper exploration of landscape, light, atmosphere, and serial motifs, while he faced severe personal and financial hardships.
Historical and Personal Context
In 1878, after financial difficulties in Argenteuil, Monet moved with his wife Camille and their sons Jean and Michel (born March 1878) to Vétheuil, a small rural village of about 600 inhabitants on the Seine, roughly 70 km northwest of Paris. They shared a modest house (often described as a pink house with terraces leading to the river) with the family of Ernest Hoschedé—a bankrupt department store owner and early patron—and his wife Alice and their six children. This created a large blended household of around 12 people.
Camille's health declined (she had uterine cancer); she died on September 5, 1879, at age 32. Monet painted her on her deathbed. Alice Hoschedé took on a central role in managing the household and caring for the children, eventually becoming Monet's lifelong companion (they married in 1892). Ernest Hoschedé largely withdrew. Despite debts and creditor issues, Monet remained productive, often painting outdoors.
He left Vétheuil at the end of 1881, briefly moving to Poissy before settling in Giverny in 1883.
Artistic Output and Significance
Monet produced around 150–300 paintings (estimates vary) during these three years, focusing on the village, the Seine River, surrounding hills, fields, orchards, and seasonal changes. This period represents a transition from his more urban/modern-life scenes (e.g., Argenteuil) to a greater emphasis on pure landscape and atmospheric effects.
Key themes and series:
Monet continued en plein air work with loose, broken brushstrokes, vibrant complementary colors, and priority on light over detail. He increasingly explored variations in the same motif under different weather, seasons, and times of day—an early form of his later serial practice (e.g., haystacks, Rouen Cathedral). Brushwork became more fluid, with emphasis on reflections in water, atmospheric haze, and dissolving forms.
The period's challenges (grief, poverty) did not darken his palette; many works radiate serenity, luminosity, and optimism, focusing on nature's beauty and transience.
Legacy
Vétheuil bridged Monet's early Impressionism and his mature Giverny phase. It honed his obsession with light and series while providing motifs (river, church, gardens) he revisited later. Works from this time are in major museums like the Met, National Gallery of Art, and Frick Collection. The house in Vétheuil has opened to the public in recent years for visitors.
This era underscores Monet's resilience: amid personal tragedy, he channeled intense observation into some of his most poetic landscapes.
Historical and Personal Context
In 1878, after financial difficulties in Argenteuil, Monet moved with his wife Camille and their sons Jean and Michel (born March 1878) to Vétheuil, a small rural village of about 600 inhabitants on the Seine, roughly 70 km northwest of Paris. They shared a modest house (often described as a pink house with terraces leading to the river) with the family of Ernest Hoschedé—a bankrupt department store owner and early patron—and his wife Alice and their six children. This created a large blended household of around 12 people.
Camille's health declined (she had uterine cancer); she died on September 5, 1879, at age 32. Monet painted her on her deathbed. Alice Hoschedé took on a central role in managing the household and caring for the children, eventually becoming Monet's lifelong companion (they married in 1892). Ernest Hoschedé largely withdrew. Despite debts and creditor issues, Monet remained productive, often painting outdoors.
He left Vétheuil at the end of 1881, briefly moving to Poissy before settling in Giverny in 1883.
Artistic Output and Significance
Monet produced around 150–300 paintings (estimates vary) during these three years, focusing on the village, the Seine River, surrounding hills, fields, orchards, and seasonal changes. This period represents a transition from his more urban/modern-life scenes (e.g., Argenteuil) to a greater emphasis on pure landscape and atmospheric effects.
Key themes and series:
- Views of Vétheuil: Multiple angles of the village and its 13th-century church tower, from hillsides, across the river, or from the island of Saint-Martin. Examples include Vétheuil in Summer (1879) and Vétheuil in Winter (1878–79).
- The Seine and Seasonal Effects: River views, reflections, boats, and dramatic winter scenes like The Thaw at Vétheuil (part of a group of ~17 paintings capturing the frozen river breaking up in early 1880 after extreme cold).
- Apple Trees and Orchards: The 1878 series of fruit-laden Pommiers on hillsides (e.g., the Christie's painting discussed earlier), evoking rural abundance.
- Gardens and Family Scenes: In 1880–1881, brighter works like The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil (multiple versions with sunflowers, children, and Alice), showing terraces and flowers he planted.
- Roads and Fields: Paths to Vétheuil, poppy fields, and hillsides.
Monet continued en plein air work with loose, broken brushstrokes, vibrant complementary colors, and priority on light over detail. He increasingly explored variations in the same motif under different weather, seasons, and times of day—an early form of his later serial practice (e.g., haystacks, Rouen Cathedral). Brushwork became more fluid, with emphasis on reflections in water, atmospheric haze, and dissolving forms.
The period's challenges (grief, poverty) did not darken his palette; many works radiate serenity, luminosity, and optimism, focusing on nature's beauty and transience.
Legacy
Vétheuil bridged Monet's early Impressionism and his mature Giverny phase. It honed his obsession with light and series while providing motifs (river, church, gardens) he revisited later. Works from this time are in major museums like the Met, National Gallery of Art, and Frick Collection. The house in Vétheuil has opened to the public in recent years for visitors.
This era underscores Monet's resilience: amid personal tragedy, he channeled intense observation into some of his most poetic landscapes.
1879 La Seine à Lavacourt
2018 SOLD for $ 15.8M by Christie's
Claude Monet had developed in Argenteuil his new style of painting that became the most typical impressionism : drawing no longer exists, replaced by spots and textures while fully respecting perspective and proportions. Argenteuil was nevertheless no longer suitable to meet his artistic requirements. His search for the expression of landscape made him travel across Normandie.
He leaves Argenteuil in 1878 due to financial difficulties and settles at Vétheuil, an untouched village further along the Seine, with his beloved wife Camille and a couple of friends, Ernest and Alice Hoschedé. This period also marks his parting away from the Impressionniste group.
1879 is a very bad year. Camille, who had been nursed by Alice during her terminal illness, dies in September. Claude had used much his remaining money for her medical care.
Monet continues nevertheless to paint. His favorite theme is the changes of light over the Seine river, at Vétheuil and in the village across the river, Lavacourt. He produced about 150 outdoor paintings during his three years at Vetheuil, his last residence before Giverny.
La Seine à Lavacourt, oil on canvas 60 x 82 cm painted by Monet in 1879, was sold by Christie's on May 8, 2018 for $ 15.8M from a lower estimate of $ 8M, lot 11 in the auction of the Rockefeller collection. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This river scenery with the village on the other shore was made in a hot summer morning with a lot of cottony cumulus passing in the blue sky. The early morning light illuminates the houses. The water is rippled by a breeze, canceling the details of the reflection. The foreground is fully filled by the waters.
The view is taken from Monet's garden which extended down to the shore. He moored his studio boat at that place.
In 1878 and 1879 Monet had executed seven variations of this landscape, making it the very first example of these series based on variations of the light with season, time and weather which will make him busy for the rest of his long career. Other views illustrate fog, cloudy sky, sunset.
Three of these views, including the example detailed above, were sold at good prices, helping Monet to be relieved from his financial hardships.
He leaves Argenteuil in 1878 due to financial difficulties and settles at Vétheuil, an untouched village further along the Seine, with his beloved wife Camille and a couple of friends, Ernest and Alice Hoschedé. This period also marks his parting away from the Impressionniste group.
1879 is a very bad year. Camille, who had been nursed by Alice during her terminal illness, dies in September. Claude had used much his remaining money for her medical care.
Monet continues nevertheless to paint. His favorite theme is the changes of light over the Seine river, at Vétheuil and in the village across the river, Lavacourt. He produced about 150 outdoor paintings during his three years at Vetheuil, his last residence before Giverny.
La Seine à Lavacourt, oil on canvas 60 x 82 cm painted by Monet in 1879, was sold by Christie's on May 8, 2018 for $ 15.8M from a lower estimate of $ 8M, lot 11 in the auction of the Rockefeller collection. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This river scenery with the village on the other shore was made in a hot summer morning with a lot of cottony cumulus passing in the blue sky. The early morning light illuminates the houses. The water is rippled by a breeze, canceling the details of the reflection. The foreground is fully filled by the waters.
The view is taken from Monet's garden which extended down to the shore. He moored his studio boat at that place.
In 1878 and 1879 Monet had executed seven variations of this landscape, making it the very first example of these series based on variations of the light with season, time and weather which will make him busy for the rest of his long career. Other views illustrate fog, cloudy sky, sunset.
Three of these views, including the example detailed above, were sold at good prices, helping Monet to be relieved from his financial hardships.
Special Report
Débâcle
Monet's Thaw (or Ice Breakup / Débâcle) Series, painted primarily in late winter/early spring 1880 during his Vétheuil period, is a remarkable group of about 17–20 paintings (estimates vary slightly by source) depicting the dramatic breaking up of ice on the Seine River after an exceptionally harsh freeze in the winter of 1879–1880.
Historical Context
The winter of 1879–1880 was one of the coldest in decades ("Siberian" conditions), with the Seine freezing solid near Vétheuil. A sudden thaw caused the ice to crack and massive floes to drift downstream, creating a noisy, visually striking spectacle. Monet, living in financial hardship and still grieving Camille’s death in September 1879, worked obsessively outdoors to capture this ephemeral event from multiple viewpoints (e.g., looking across to Lavacourt or downstream). Alice Hoschedé described the dramatic sounds of the breaking ice in a letter.
This series marks an important step in Monet’s development of serial painting—exploring the same motif under changing conditions—foreshadowing his later haystacks, poplars, and Rouen Cathedral sequences.
Key Features and Motifs
Monet used loose, rapid, and broken brushstrokes with a reduced, cool palette (blues, greys, mauves, whites, and subtle earth tones) to convey the cold, hazy winter light. He avoided sharp outlines, instead building forms through color and light:
Visual Effect and Emotional Impact
The paintings evoke desolation, melancholy, and transience—mirroring Monet’s personal grief—yet also a sense of renewal and the raw power of nature. The hazy atmosphere, broken reflections, and drifting ice create a feeling of impermanence and quiet drama. While cold and bleak, the works shimmer with subtle luminosity, blending observation with poetic resonance. They convey the physical sensation of cold, cracking ice, and shifting light, making the viewer feel the harsh yet beautiful transition from winter to spring.
This series is widely regarded as a high point of Monet’s Vétheuil output, blending Impressionist immediacy with deeper emotional and formal innovation. Many works are in major collections (Thyssen-Bornemisza, Orsay, private holdings).
Historical Context
The winter of 1879–1880 was one of the coldest in decades ("Siberian" conditions), with the Seine freezing solid near Vétheuil. A sudden thaw caused the ice to crack and massive floes to drift downstream, creating a noisy, visually striking spectacle. Monet, living in financial hardship and still grieving Camille’s death in September 1879, worked obsessively outdoors to capture this ephemeral event from multiple viewpoints (e.g., looking across to Lavacourt or downstream). Alice Hoschedé described the dramatic sounds of the breaking ice in a letter.
This series marks an important step in Monet’s development of serial painting—exploring the same motif under changing conditions—foreshadowing his later haystacks, poplars, and Rouen Cathedral sequences.
Key Features and Motifs
- Subject: Drifting ice floes (glaçons) on the river, often with reflections of trees, sky, and distant banks or the village of Vétheuil. Compositions are predominantly horizontal and elongated, emphasizing the river’s flow and vastness. Vertical accents come from bare trees or their reflections.
- Notable Examples:
- The Thaw at Vétheuil (1880/1881, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid; ~60 x 100 cm) — A prime example with hazy, melancholic atmosphere.
- The Break-Up of the Ice (various titles like La Débâcle or Les Glaçons, e.g., in the Gulbenkian Museum, University of Michigan, etc.).
- Views from different angles, including some with warmer sunset tones or grey weather.
Monet used loose, rapid, and broken brushstrokes with a reduced, cool palette (blues, greys, mauves, whites, and subtle earth tones) to convey the cold, hazy winter light. He avoided sharp outlines, instead building forms through color and light:
- Ice floes appear as fractured, shimmering patches with textured, choppy strokes that suggest movement and reflection.
- Reflections in the water are fragmented and distorted by the ice, creating dynamic interplay between solid and fluid elements.
- Some works show more experimental, almost abstract handling of the ice, with bold strokes that anticipate his later Water Lilies series (where floating forms and reflections dominate).
Visual Effect and Emotional Impact
The paintings evoke desolation, melancholy, and transience—mirroring Monet’s personal grief—yet also a sense of renewal and the raw power of nature. The hazy atmosphere, broken reflections, and drifting ice create a feeling of impermanence and quiet drama. While cold and bleak, the works shimmer with subtle luminosity, blending observation with poetic resonance. They convey the physical sensation of cold, cracking ice, and shifting light, making the viewer feel the harsh yet beautiful transition from winter to spring.
This series is widely regarded as a high point of Monet’s Vétheuil output, blending Impressionist immediacy with deeper emotional and formal innovation. Many works are in major collections (Thyssen-Bornemisza, Orsay, private holdings).
1880 Vétheuil
2022 SOLD for £ 11.7M by Sotheby's
A view of Vétheuil with a dark blue river and a blue sky with small white clouds was sold by Christie's for £ 5.1M on June 25, 2002, lot 6 and by Sotheby's for £ 11.7M on June 29, 2022, lot 120. The village is hidden within the lush trees. This oil on canvas 60 x 100 cm was painted by Monet in 1880. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A view from the Seine through the lush trees of one of the islands is quite similar as the example described above, excepted that the foreground of shore is now missing but the tiny boat is still present. This oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm was sold for $ 5.1M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 8.
A view taken before sunset features the village from the opposite shore of the Seine, or possibly from one the islands in-between that Monet could have reached with his studio boat. This oil on canvas 72 x 99 cm painted in 1880 was sold for $ 6.2M by Sotheby's on May 6, 2010, lot 32.
A view from the Seine through the lush trees of one of the islands is quite similar as the example described above, excepted that the foreground of shore is now missing but the tiny boat is still present. This oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm was sold for $ 5.1M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 8.
A view taken before sunset features the village from the opposite shore of the Seine, or possibly from one the islands in-between that Monet could have reached with his studio boat. This oil on canvas 72 x 99 cm painted in 1880 was sold for $ 6.2M by Sotheby's on May 6, 2010, lot 32.
1881 Alice au Jardin
2014 SOLD for $ 34M by Sotheby's
The untimely death of Camille in 1879 rushes Alice Hoschedé into the arms of Monet.
In 1881 he features Alice in the garden of Vétheuil. He remembers the time when the white dress of Camille was expressing purity. Alice is quietly sewing in a rich surrounding of foliage. The sunlight filtering through a large tree provides a continuity in texture between the green and the woman in light blue.
This oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was sold for $ 34M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 29. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
That year marks the peak and the end of the first impressionist period of Monet. He is watched by scandal when he can no longer hide his affair with Alice, a married woman. In the following year, his long lonesome trip in Normandy makes him wish to express the variations of light in the landscape at various times of the day.
Monet moved further away from Paris. He settled in 1883 in Giverny with Alice and the eight children of this recomposed family. The difficult period that followed the death of Camille is finally over. Claude married Alice in 1892, after the death of Hoschedé.
In 1881 he features Alice in the garden of Vétheuil. He remembers the time when the white dress of Camille was expressing purity. Alice is quietly sewing in a rich surrounding of foliage. The sunlight filtering through a large tree provides a continuity in texture between the green and the woman in light blue.
This oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was sold for $ 34M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 29. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
That year marks the peak and the end of the first impressionist period of Monet. He is watched by scandal when he can no longer hide his affair with Alice, a married woman. In the following year, his long lonesome trip in Normandy makes him wish to express the variations of light in the landscape at various times of the day.
Monet moved further away from Paris. He settled in 1883 in Giverny with Alice and the eight children of this recomposed family. The difficult period that followed the death of Camille is finally over. Claude married Alice in 1892, after the death of Hoschedé.
1881 Le Jardin de l'Artiste
1996 SOLD for $ 13.2M by Christie's
Claude Monet felt himself as a gardener. While in Argenteuil he enjoyed painting views of his own garden.
The house he rented in Vétheuil was carefully selected for creating an exuberant garden. It stood on the road from Vétheuil to La Roche-Guyon, which separated it from the garden that sloped down to the banks of the Seine river, leading to the ravishing panorama to Lavacourt that was the theme of his first intentionally built series.
Monet did not paint his new garden during the agony of Camille. He resumed that pictorial theme in 1881.
An oil on canvas 60 x 75 cm dated 1881 by Monet was referred as La Maison de Campagne when it was acquired by Durand-Ruel in April 1881. It is also more correctly titled Le Jardin de Vétheuil. It features in a close foreground the lower part of the garden, with branches and leaves half hiding the house and the stairs. It was sold for $ 7.6M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 20.
Monet painted a series of four views nearly identical in composition of his garden in the summer of 1881, with differences in the position of children descending the stairs from the building and in the sunlight.
Le Jardin de l'artiste, oil on canvas 100 x 82 cm created around noon, was sold for $ 13.2M by Christie's on November 11, 1996, lot 13. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The house he rented in Vétheuil was carefully selected for creating an exuberant garden. It stood on the road from Vétheuil to La Roche-Guyon, which separated it from the garden that sloped down to the banks of the Seine river, leading to the ravishing panorama to Lavacourt that was the theme of his first intentionally built series.
Monet did not paint his new garden during the agony of Camille. He resumed that pictorial theme in 1881.
An oil on canvas 60 x 75 cm dated 1881 by Monet was referred as La Maison de Campagne when it was acquired by Durand-Ruel in April 1881. It is also more correctly titled Le Jardin de Vétheuil. It features in a close foreground the lower part of the garden, with branches and leaves half hiding the house and the stairs. It was sold for $ 7.6M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 20.
Monet painted a series of four views nearly identical in composition of his garden in the summer of 1881, with differences in the position of children descending the stairs from the building and in the sunlight.
Le Jardin de l'artiste, oil on canvas 100 x 82 cm created around noon, was sold for $ 13.2M by Christie's on November 11, 1996, lot 13. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1881 Champ de Blé
2012 SOLD for $ 12.1M by Sotheby's
The move of Claude Monet to Vétheuil is a shift to the delights and colors of the countryside.
Champ de blé, oil on canvas 66 x 82 cm painted in 1881, is depicting a vast and verdant wheat field in Lavacourt in a sunny weather with floating cirrus clouds. The balanced composition is built around two horizontal lines.
It is probably the picture on that theme which Monet exhibited in 1882 at the Impressionist exhibition. It was sold for $ 12.1M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2012, lot 19. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Champ de blé, oil on canvas 66 x 82 cm painted in 1881, is depicting a vast and verdant wheat field in Lavacourt in a sunny weather with floating cirrus clouds. The balanced composition is built around two horizontal lines.
It is probably the picture on that theme which Monet exhibited in 1882 at the Impressionist exhibition. It was sold for $ 12.1M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2012, lot 19. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1884 Au Cap Martin
2023 SOLD for $ 11.5M by Sotheby's
Looking for new landscapes and their associated light effect, Monet made in the winter of 1884 a three month solo trip to the Mediterranean coast, working in Bordighera, Menton and Monte Carlo. He had shortly visited the region with Renoir in December 1883.
He dedicated a few days in April to two views from the Cap Martin which he had spotted as exceptional in February. Residing at Menton, he made of them a sub-series of nine paintings varying the times of day.
Au Cap Martin features Menton in the morning sun, packed between the blue sea and the big rocky mountains with the shore of the Cap in the foreground. The intense colors are applied in impasto. The rocks are rendered in a brilliant mingling of pink, yellow and orange.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm was sold for $ 11.5M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2023, lot 117. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The pictorial innovations of Monet during this trip certainly encouraged Cézanne for starting his series of views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. After a Monet exhibition in 1896, a dazzled Kandinsky decided to engage in his new style of landscape painting escaping the strict realism.
He dedicated a few days in April to two views from the Cap Martin which he had spotted as exceptional in February. Residing at Menton, he made of them a sub-series of nine paintings varying the times of day.
Au Cap Martin features Menton in the morning sun, packed between the blue sea and the big rocky mountains with the shore of the Cap in the foreground. The intense colors are applied in impasto. The rocks are rendered in a brilliant mingling of pink, yellow and orange.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm was sold for $ 11.5M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2023, lot 117. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The pictorial innovations of Monet during this trip certainly encouraged Cézanne for starting his series of views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. After a Monet exhibition in 1896, a dazzled Kandinsky decided to engage in his new style of landscape painting escaping the strict realism.
1885 Le Givre
2013 SOLD for £ 8.8M by Sotheby's
Impressionism considered by Monet is not only a new technique suitable for painting landscapes. It is also a life style far from social conventions and preferring the pleasures of the countryside to the noise of the city.
An outdoor painter, Monet endeavored to express the deep essence of countryside. Like Sisley in Moret, he is not concerned with tourism. He settles in 1883 with Alice and the eight children of this recomposed family in Giverny, a pretty village where he can observe throughout the seasons the subtle variety of atmospheres and colors. The difficult period that followed the death of Camille is finally over.
Village life is a delight for Monet. He is dazzled by the countryside all around his new home. Route près de Giverny is a view of a country road in a sunny morning with extended shadows. This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm painted in 1885 was sold for $ 9M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 33A.
In January 1885 Monet is at home. One of his favorite themes is made available to him in all its splendor : the light of winter on a snowy landscape. Van Gogh will also dazzle at his arrival in Arles in a wonderful post-snow day of February 1888. The average temperature fell down to minus 6 °C, and heavy snow blankets the village in new shades of white, silver, and blue.
Undeterred by the harsh conditions, the artist rushes outdoors to paint, producing a few views on canvas before snow and ice melt. Already the Impressionism of Monet highlights texture instead of forms. A scene of frost in the gently filtered light of winter, oil on canvas 54 x 71 cm, was sold for £ 8.8M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013, lot 16. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Giverny is welcoming, even in these extreme weather conditions. In the distance, two small figures contrast with the white world. Positioned near the edge of the painting, they do not disturb the magic serenity of the frozen nature.
A series of four paintings by Monet feature the snow-covered road entering the village of Giverny from the east.
The first one, 65 x 81 cm, taken while the snow was still falling in storm, was sold for $ 1.4M by Christie's on December 1, 2006, lot 324.
As welcoming as an image of Christmas, an oil on canvas 65 x 85 cm was sold for £ 8.2M by Sotheby's on February 8, 2012, lot 5. Among the leafless trees that twist in the cold, the road is white. Specifically it gives the "impression" of being white, without being immaculated. This beautiful atmosphere effect is achieved by a meticulous tangle of colors, indeed like a school case demonstrating the technique of the most subtle of the impressionist painters.
A sunset version of the same scenery, 65 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 5.2M by Christie's on November 5, 2013, lot 37. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The final painting in the sequence depicts the site in bright sunshine under a blue sky.
An outdoor painter, Monet endeavored to express the deep essence of countryside. Like Sisley in Moret, he is not concerned with tourism. He settles in 1883 with Alice and the eight children of this recomposed family in Giverny, a pretty village where he can observe throughout the seasons the subtle variety of atmospheres and colors. The difficult period that followed the death of Camille is finally over.
Village life is a delight for Monet. He is dazzled by the countryside all around his new home. Route près de Giverny is a view of a country road in a sunny morning with extended shadows. This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm painted in 1885 was sold for $ 9M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 33A.
In January 1885 Monet is at home. One of his favorite themes is made available to him in all its splendor : the light of winter on a snowy landscape. Van Gogh will also dazzle at his arrival in Arles in a wonderful post-snow day of February 1888. The average temperature fell down to minus 6 °C, and heavy snow blankets the village in new shades of white, silver, and blue.
Undeterred by the harsh conditions, the artist rushes outdoors to paint, producing a few views on canvas before snow and ice melt. Already the Impressionism of Monet highlights texture instead of forms. A scene of frost in the gently filtered light of winter, oil on canvas 54 x 71 cm, was sold for £ 8.8M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013, lot 16. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Giverny is welcoming, even in these extreme weather conditions. In the distance, two small figures contrast with the white world. Positioned near the edge of the painting, they do not disturb the magic serenity of the frozen nature.
A series of four paintings by Monet feature the snow-covered road entering the village of Giverny from the east.
The first one, 65 x 81 cm, taken while the snow was still falling in storm, was sold for $ 1.4M by Christie's on December 1, 2006, lot 324.
As welcoming as an image of Christmas, an oil on canvas 65 x 85 cm was sold for £ 8.2M by Sotheby's on February 8, 2012, lot 5. Among the leafless trees that twist in the cold, the road is white. Specifically it gives the "impression" of being white, without being immaculated. This beautiful atmosphere effect is achieved by a meticulous tangle of colors, indeed like a school case demonstrating the technique of the most subtle of the impressionist painters.
A sunset version of the same scenery, 65 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 5.2M by Christie's on November 5, 2013, lot 37. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The final painting in the sequence depicts the site in bright sunshine under a blue sky.
1885 Les Meules
2015 SOLD for $ 16.4M by Christie's
When it is summer, Claude and Alice Monet love to finish the day in the meadow separated from their garden by a brook lined with poplars. The harvest is performed and the haystacks are awaiting to enter into the barn.
On May 14, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 16.4M an oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm dated 1885, lot 15C.
The composition is balanced, as always. A shadow is approaching the foot of the sun drenched stacks. In this soft shadow, halfway between the position of the artist and the poplars, the woman and three young children transform this peaceful landscape into a scene of intimate happiness.
On May 14, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 16.4M an oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm dated 1885, lot 15C.
The composition is balanced, as always. A shadow is approaching the foot of the sun drenched stacks. In this soft shadow, halfway between the position of the artist and the poplars, the woman and three young children transform this peaceful landscape into a scene of intimate happiness.
Why #Monet's studies of Giverny are profound reflections of changing times http://t.co/4ndYY4IS40 pic.twitter.com/NOMQjetkNX
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 15, 2015
1887 Sous les Peupliers
2014 SOLD for $ 20.3M by Sotheby's
Monet traveled extensively all along the 1880s in search of the most spectacular scenery of the French countryside. Better than anyone, he observed the light. At the end of this creative phase, he enters into communion with the agrarian landscape, beginning to escape the need to locate the view.
On November 4, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.3M from a lower estimate of $ 12M an oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1887 entitled Sous les peupliers (under the poplars), lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The control of his art is total. His impressionist manner is reinforced by a thick paint and the colors, as always, are beautiful and expressive. A similar view is held at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. They are identified as the rural landscape in Limetz, not so far from Giverny.
This is in some way the culmination of the landscape art in France. Monet believes that his maturity is total. In the next year, he will be disappointed when the light and the wind of the Mediterranea will be too violent for his technique of outdoor painting. A new phase begins for him with more systematic studies of tiny variations of light in structured series: Haystacks in 1890 soon followed by the Poplars and by the Rouen Cathedrals.
On November 4, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.3M from a lower estimate of $ 12M an oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1887 entitled Sous les peupliers (under the poplars), lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The control of his art is total. His impressionist manner is reinforced by a thick paint and the colors, as always, are beautiful and expressive. A similar view is held at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. They are identified as the rural landscape in Limetz, not so far from Giverny.
This is in some way the culmination of the landscape art in France. Monet believes that his maturity is total. In the next year, he will be disappointed when the light and the wind of the Mediterranea will be too violent for his technique of outdoor painting. A new phase begins for him with more systematic studies of tiny variations of light in structured series: Haystacks in 1890 soon followed by the Poplars and by the Rouen Cathedrals.
1887-1888 Les Peupliers à Giverny
2015 SOLD for £ 10.8M by Sotheby's
In the 1880s, Claude Monet is the landscape painter of France. Like Cézanne and Sisley, he however specializes in views close to his residence. His distant excursions that become rarer stimulate him to better observe his new paradise, the countryside around Giverny.
1887 marks the culmination of this slow evolution, including improvements in the texture of his paint.
On February 3, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 10.8M Les Peupliers à Giverny, lot 21. This oil on canvas 74 x 93 cm belonged since 1951 to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The composition of this picture is powerful. Its theme is the sunset of the early autumn in high treetops where the light turns into fire whirls. Through the trees, the clear sky and the fields offer sumptuous colors. The horizon was not useful for this exceptional landscape : it is hidden by the leaves.
1887 marks the culmination of this slow evolution, including improvements in the texture of his paint.
On February 3, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 10.8M Les Peupliers à Giverny, lot 21. This oil on canvas 74 x 93 cm belonged since 1951 to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The composition of this picture is powerful. Its theme is the sunset of the early autumn in high treetops where the light turns into fire whirls. Through the trees, the clear sky and the fields offer sumptuous colors. The horizon was not useful for this exceptional landscape : it is hidden by the leaves.
