À propos de l’œuvre
Le Bassin d'Argenteuil, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · The Argenteuil promenade around 1872 · Musée d'Orsay
The Argenteuil Basin W225hand painted reproduction
The promenade runs along the Argenteuil basin under a row of trees, while sailboats, pontoons and washboats enliven the Seine. Above, an immense cumulus sky occupies almost two thirds of the canvas. Monet brings together leisure, traffic and landscape in very constructed light.
Look at the work
A rhythmic walk under an immense sky
On the left, the trunks and their shadows cross the path in a regular succession. Several walkers decrease towards the road bridge. This very readable depth responds to the line of the river and the sailboats which also tighten towards the bottom.
On the right appear the pontoon of a bathing establishment then a wash boat. The bridge closes the horizon, framed by its toll pavilions. The large white and gray masses of the clouds dominate the composition and give all human activity a lighter scale.
The animation of the pool remains orderly: trees, walkers, sails and clouds each advance at a different pace.
Composition, touch and light
What Monet builds behind the impression of snapshot
Three precise elements allow us to understand this composition and the essential difficulties of faithful reproduction.
Shadows as lines of flight
They cut the walk in successive diagonals. Their reduced spacing towards the bottom, which reinforces the feeling of depth.
A strip of activity at the water's edge
Figures, boats and constructions are concentrated near the low horizon. This density leaves the sky with its monumentality.
A pattern observed then recomposed
Monet simplified the five-arch bridge instead of seven and increased the height of the toll lodges to clarify the structure.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The high definition reference corresponds to the RF 2010 canvas, W225. It makes walkers, the alternation of shadows, sailboats, the road bridge and the very nuanced construction of the clouds visible.
A particularly low horizon
The sky takes up the majority of the format, but the lines of flight of the promenade and the pool prevent the scene from losing its depth.
Whites modulated by blue
Sails and clouds use different creams, grays and blues; no light area is left uniform.
A fragmented touch depending on the pattern
The grasses and reflections are placed by small gestures, the clouds by larger masses and the trunks by vertical lines.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Musée d'Orsay keeps this painting under the RF 2010 inventory and the Wildenstein 225 reference.
The Argenteuil basin and promenade
The shore offers views of the road bridge, water activities, bathing establishment and wash boat.
Second Impressionist Exhibition, 1876
Monet presented this view at the exhibition organized in 1876, two years after the group's first demonstration.
Legacy of Count Isaac de Camondo
The painting entered the national collections in 1911 through the bequest of Count Isaac de Camondo.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Respect the regular reduction of trees, shadows and walkers.
- Maintain the road bridge and its pavilions as landmarks at the bottom.
- Differentiate between sails, pontoon and washboat without overloading the details.
- Give the clouds their volume and their gray-blue passages without isolating them from the sky.
Work sheet
| Title | The Argenteuil Basin W225 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | Around 1872 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 60 × 81 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France |
| Inventory | RF 2010 · Wildenstein 225 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its deep greens, gray blue and large luminous clouds bring space to a dining room, living room or office. An oak, soft black or bluish gray frame highlights the width of the scene particularly well.
