Seine-et-Marne · At the origins of impressionism
Monet in Fontainebleau and Chailly: the first outdoor campaigns
Between 1863 and 1866, Claude Monet left studio teaching to test his painting in front of the roads, oaks, rocks and moving light of the Fontainebleau forest.
Chailly-en-Bière becomes its base. He works there with Frédéric Bazille, prepares the immense Lunch on the grass and transforms Barbizon's legacy into a clearer, more immediate and soon impressionistic painting.
Complete guide
From the first studies on the motif to the major project of the Salon of 1866.
Essential answer
Why is Fontainebleau decisive for Monet?
The forest allows him to link the direct observation learned from Boudin and Jongkind to the ambition of the large paintings intended for the Salon.
A laboratory before impressionism
At twenty-two, Monet still frequented Charles Gleyre's studio, where he met Bazille, Renoir and probably Sisley. But he wants to go out: compare color to nature, paint sun effects and work with others in front of the same pattern.
- 01Chailly-en-Bière offers hostels, models and agricultural plains.
- 02The forest of Fontainebleau provides roads, oaks, clearings and rocks.
- 03Barbizon recalls the example of Corot, Rousseau, Millet and Diaz.
- 04Young Monet is already looking to do some light the real subject.
Timeline
Four years to go from exercise to manifesto
Fontainebleau is not an isolated journey, but a series of returns where Monet's ambitions grow rapidly.
Leave the Gleyre workshop
In the spring, Monet leads Bazille and other comrades towards the forest. They work in front of nature, share motives and measure the gap between academic theory and real light.
Build a natural space
Studies linked to the Chailly road show increasing attention to the diagonals of the path, the trunks which frame the gaze and the spots of light under the foliage.
Prepare Lunch
From spring to autumn, Monet stayed several months in Chailly. He painted the Pavé, the Bodmer Oak, millstones and studies of his large outdoor scene.
Abandoning the immense canvas
Lunch cannot be completed in time for the Salon. Monet puts it aside and exhibits instead Camille, the woman in the green dress, success which opens another path.
Artistic geography
Chailly, Barbizon and the forest: three complementary territories
They are often confused, but each plays a different role in young Monet's campaigns.
Chailly-en-Bière
The village serves as a material base. Painters meet at the Lion d'Or or Cheval Blanc, find rooms, meals and direct access to the plains and the forest edge.
Village, inns, fieldsBarbizon
Still attached to Chailly at the beginning of the century, the hamlet became the home of landscapers. The Ganne inn brings together Corot, Rousseau, Millet and their successors.
Legacy of the Barbizon SchoolFontainebleau Forest
The Bas-Bréau, the roads, crossroads and large oaks make up an open-air workshop. The pattern changes as soon as a cloud passes or the sun crosses the canopy.
Roads, oaks, sand and rocks
Painting in front of nature
The road becomes an instrument of light
In Chailly's views, Monet does not yet seek the atmospheric dissolutions of his late series. He firmly builds the space: a path hollows out the perspective, the trunks form a vertical architecture and the mass of the foliage stabilizes the whole.
The novelty comes from color. Shadows are no longer simply brown or black: they absorb greens, blues and purples. Sunny areas take on bold yellows and light ochres. The light seems to pass through the painting in patches.
The format remains transportable. This scale allows faster execution and maintains the freshness of observation. She opposes the challenge of Lunch on the grass, whose monumental dimensions require a passage through the workshop.
Six works to compare
Roads, oaks, fields and figures under the trees
The Chailly countryside gradually expands the outdoors, from the landscape alone to the monumental scene with characters.
The Pavé de Chailly in the forest
The clear road splits the dark masses, while the sun transforms the ground into a succession of irregular spots.
See reproduction →
Bodmer's Oak
The monumental tree becomes a portrait. The red leaves indicate the end of the long autumn stay.
See reproduction →
Fontainebleau Forest
The table favors the density of the forest cover and the breakthroughs of light between the trunks.
See reproduction →The Pavé de Chailly
The road and the bands of sun give the landscape an almost musical rhythm.
See reproduction →
Grindstones near Chailly
Well before Giverny's big series, Monet already observed how the morning sun transforms a millstone and its field.
See reproduction →
Lunch on the Grass
Monet wants to unite life-size characters and undergrowth light in an ambitious response to Manet's painting.
See reproduction →The big challenge
Why did Lunch on the Grass remain unfinished?
Monet wanted to maintain the freshness of the outdoors on a scale greater than four by six meters: an almost insoluble contradiction.
From the hoped-for manifesto to the fragments of Orsay
Begun in the spring of 1865, the painting was to be presented at the Salon of 1866. It pays homage to the Lunch on the grass de Manet while taking on a different challenge: painting an elegant and contemporary society without abandoning the effects of sunshine observed in the forest.
- 1Study outside. Monet painted studies of figures, foliage and light in Chailly.
- 2Compose in the workshop. Elaborate sketch organizes twelve characters around a white tablecloth.
- 3Enlarge. The final canvas exceeds four by six meters and makes each correction costly.
- 4Give up the Salon. In April 1866, Monet admitted that he would not be able to finish on time.
- 5Suffer the damage. The canvas left as collateral with an owner is rolled up in a cellar and moldy.
- 6Cut. Recovered in 1884, it is divided; two fragments are today kept at the Musée d'Orsay.
A working friendship
Bazille, model, companion and witness to the accident
Chailly's stay shows how collective the beginnings of Impressionism were.
A temporary workshop in a hostel room
Monet insistently asked Bazille to join him during the summer of 1865. His friend had to pose for the Lunch, alongside Camille Doncieux. Shortly after his arrival, Monet injured his leg and had to interrupt his work.
Bazille, who began studying medicine, organizes an improvised pull-up with ropes, container and blankets. Then he paints the scene without idealizing it: unmade bed, visible wound, painter overwhelmed by immobility.
This proximity does not mean that their works merge. Bazille will maintain a more constructed taste for figures; Monet will always push the analysis of light variations further.
See the Frédéric Bazille collectionChailly and Fontainebleau today
Five photographs to read the real territory
The village, the plains and the rocks allow us to understand the variety of motifs, without claiming to identify all the locations of the easel to the nearest meter.
The agricultural plain of Chailly
The landscape is not limited to the undergrowth. The open fields explain the first millstones and the low horizons painted around the village.
Photo: Poudou99 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0.
St Paul's Church
In the center of the village, the church serves as a landmark before reaching the old inns, fields and the edge.
Photo: Daniel Villafruela· Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0.
Paths between field and forest
Walking connects the patterns. These simple axes become powerful lines of perspective in Monet's paintings.
Photo: Poudou99 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0.
The inn village
The current facades remind us that Chailly was also a place of stay, meals and sociability for artists.
Photo: Poudou99 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0.
Sandstone, roots and land ruptures
In Apremont, rock is exposed between the trees. Even when Monet favors roads and oaks, this geology gives the forest its rugged depth.
Photo: Thesupermat· Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0.What Monet learns
Six achievements which announce his future painting
Fontainebleau is not yet the Impressionism of 1874, but several essential methods are already in place.
Return to the same reason
A path or an oak deserves several attempts depending on the framing and the lighting effect.
Color the shadows
The undergrowth turns green, blue or purple rather than just black.
Paint with stains
The bursts of sunlight fragment the ground and make the touch more visible.
Work in a group
Bazille, Renoir and Sisley share advice, models and experiences in front of nature.
Go from small to large
Portable studies are used to construct a monumental work in a workshop.
Accepting the unfinished
Lunch failure teaches that sensation does not always survive enlargement.
Visiting places today
A five-stage route around Chailly and Barbizon
The landscape can be explored on foot and by car, checking forest access before departure.
St. Paul Church
Start in the center of Chailly to locate the village between the Plaine de Bière and the forest.
Old hostels
Spot the Cheval Blanc and the Lion d'Or sector, meeting places for painters.
Cemetery
The tombs of Millet and Rousseau recall the generation of Barbizon which precedes Monet.
Edge and Bas-Bréau
Observe the roads, the old oaks and the passages of sunlight which structure the first canvases.
Barbizon
Finish at the Ganne Inn and the Barbizon Departmental Museum of Painters.
Where to see the originals?
Chailly's works are scattered between Paris, New York and Europe
Museum notices allow you to reconstruct the countryside and its different stages.
Musée d'Orsay
The Pavé de Chailly, the two fragments of Lunch on the grass and The Improvised Ambulance form the most complete core.
Consult the instructions →Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest, painted at the end of the 1865 stay, shows light passing through the autumn foliage.
Consult the instructions →Pushkin Museum
The very accomplished sketch of the Lunch on the grass restores the complete composition before enlargement.
Explore the museum →Ordrupgaard
The Chailly Road through the Forest of Fontainebleau extends the comparison of forest roads.
Explore the collection →Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
One Chailly Road dated 1864 documents work prior to the Great Campaign of 1865.
Explore the museum →Barbizon Painters Museum
The Ganne inn and its decorations place Monet in the continuity of the landscapers who had made the forest a workshop.
Prepare the visit →Extend the visit
Collections linked to the beginnings of the outdoors
Compare Monet to his companions and the artists who prepared the impressionist break.
Frequently asked questions
Monet in Chailly and Fontainebleau: the essentials
Dates, places, works and role of the outdoors in the training of the painter.
When did Monet paint in Chailly-en-Bière?
Monet stayed in the area several times between 1863 and 1866. The most important campaign extended from spring to autumn 1865.
Why does Monet choose the Fontainebleau forest?
It is close to Paris, rich in roads, oaks, clearings and rocks, and already famous thanks to the painters of Barbizon. It offers ideal terrain for working directly in front of nature.
Did Monet paint Lunch on the Grass entirely outside?
No. He carried out studies on nature and had his models installed in Chailly, then developed the large composition in the workshop. Its dimensions made execution entirely in the open air impractical.
Why is Lunch on the Grass in fragments?
The canvas left as pawns at an owner's house was rolled up in a cellar and damaged by humidity. Monet recovered it in 1884, cut it out and preserved three fragments; two remain today.
Who's in Monet's Lunch on the Grass?
Camille Doncieux and Frédéric Bazille serve as models. In the large version, a bearded man is strongly reminiscent of Gustave Courbet.
What does Bazille's Improvised Ambulance represent?
The painting shows Monet bedridden in an inn in Chailly after a leg injury during the summer of 1865. Bazille had installed a traction system to relieve his friend.
What is the difference between Chailly and Barbizon?
Chailly-en-Bière is the village where Monet stays and works; Barbizon, then historically linked to Chailly, is home to the Barbizon School and the Ganne Inn. Both are on the edge of the same forest.
Where to see the paintings from this period?
The Musée d'Orsay preserves Le Pavé de Chailly and the fragments of Le Déjeuner. The Met exhibits Bodmer's Oak; other works can be found in Moscow, Copenhagen and Cologne.
Reference sources
Museums and heritage institutions
The dates, dimensions and interpretations are based primarily on public collections and official stakeholders in the region.
Musée d'Orsay
Dimensions, genesis, abandonment and history of fragments.
LandscapeThe Pavé de Chailly
Dating, technique, dimensions and location represented.
FriendshipThe Improvised Ambulance
Bazille, the accident and the stay of the summer of 1865.
New YorkThe Bodmer Oak
Context of Bas-Bréau and end of the autumn stay.
TimelineHouse of Claude Monet
Salon of 1865 and development of the Lunch.
TerritoryFontainebleau Tourism
Hostels, villages and artists' itinerary.
LegacyBarbizon
Auberge Ganne and the birth of painting on the motif.
National HeritageMona Lisa Base
Official notice from Pavé de Chailly.
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