À propos de l’œuvre
La Cathédrale de Rouen, le Portail, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1892 · Pola 006-0510 · W1328
Rouen Cathedral, portal W1328hand painted reproduction
As evening approaches, the top of Rouen Cathedral receives a pink light while the lower half sinks into a gray shadow. Monet thus transforms the facade into two superimposed climates. The Pola Museum of Art version, inventory 006-0510, corresponds to Wildenstein 1328.
Look at the work
The facade shared between evening light and cast shadow
The western portal occupies almost the entire frame. The towers are cut, the rose dominates the center and the three large openings close the base. By bringing the architecture together, Monet makes the eye look through a surface of keys rather than a monument seen from a distance.
The upper part mixes pink, cream and pale purple. Further down, the shadow of the building facing the cathedral cools the stone in blue gray. The museum places this effect around six p.m.: the descending light explains the very particular vertical contrast of this canvas.
W1328 captures a precise tilting: the light leaves the portal while it still remains attached to the upper reliefs.
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.
The exact version of the Pola Museum
The museum documents an oil on canvas measuring 100.4 × 65.4 cm, dated 1892 and registered under number 006-0510. The catalog raisonné identifies it as Wildenstein 1328.
An effect observed around six p.m
The Japanese notice explains that the pink of the summit corresponds to the evening light, while the lower gray reflects the shadow of the building from which Monet worked facing the gate.
Thirty-three states of the facade
The Pola Museum recalls that Monet painted thirty-three views of the cathedral, from dawn until after sunset. Twenty were gathered at Durand-Ruel in May 1895.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one image is used: the exact view of W1328, preserved as a real WebP of 1,928 × 3,000 px, without artificial enlargement.
An oblique light division
The transition between the pink and gray areas should not become a sharp line. It crosses the sculptures irregularly and maintains the continuity of the facade.
Powder pink, cream and blue gray
Warm colors are concentrated in the upper part; blues and purples deepen the bottom. Their report produces the time of day more surely than a precise drawing.
A material that follows the reliefs
The thick keys group around the arcades, niches and pinnacles. They must remain oriented and discontinuous so that the stone appears to vibrate.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Pola Museum of Art identifies this Cathedral under inventory 006-0510; its dimensions and Wildenstein number 1328 fix the exact version.
Rouen Cathedral, Wildenstein 1328
This vertical oil on canvas measures 100.4 × 65.4 cm. It is dated 1892 by the museum, before the workshop revivals which accompany the series.
Pola Museum of Art, 006-0510
The painting is kept in Hakone within a large collection of works by Monet. Its institutional inventory number avoids any confusion with other portals.
A light at the end of the day
The pink upper part still receives the sun; the shadow of a neighboring building already covers the lower area. This real circumstance organizes the entire composition.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Pola Museum version W1328, inventory 006-0510
- The original vertical format of 100.4 × 65.4 cm
- The contrast between the high pink part and the gray-blue base
- The rose and legible portals without rigid architectural contours
Work sheet
| Title | Rouen Cathedral, portal W1328 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1892 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 100.4 × 65.4 cm |
| Orientation | Vertical |
| Conservation | Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan |
| Inventory | 006-0510 · Wildenstein 1328 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its mineral roses and bluish grays give measured warmth to an entrance, library or living room. The reproduction is particularly suitable for smoked oak, light stone and unbleached textiles.
