À propos de l’œuvre
L'église de Vetheuil, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · The church seen from the village houses in 1878 · Wildenstein 473
The Church of Vétheuil W473hand painted reproduction
The Notre-Dame de Vétheuil church appears behind a group of tight houses and irregular walls. Its sculpted facade and its tower topped with a blue roof dominate the composition, but Monet places them in the ordinary life of the town: paths, gardens, open windows and small figures lead to the monument.
Look at the work
The village forms a threshold in front of the church
The western facade of the church stands slightly to the left of the center. Its pinnacles, large arch and small towers are translated by a mosaic of ocher, gray, green and pink rather than a meticulous architectural design. To the right, the massive tower and its dark blue roof give the monument its highest point.
A white house occupies the center of the foreground and hides part of the church. Its blue shutters, its light roof and its red base are surrounded by walls, slopes and vegetation. A few tiny inhabitants line the path; their presence transforms the monumental view into an inhabited scene.
Monet does not clear the monument: he makes it emerge through the tangle of houses and paths.
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.
An architecture in superimposed plans
Walls, white house, facade and tower fit together without a perfectly symmetrical axis. This superposition restores the real rise of the village.
White as an active color
The central house is not neutral: its plaster mixes gray, pink, yellow and blue. It captures light and separates darker areas.
Figures that measure scale
The inhabitants at the bottom of the path are very small facing the walls and the church. They make the monumentality of the whole noticeable.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The unique reference corresponds to version Wildenstein 473. The public domain file measures 1,320 × 999 px; it is kept at its native definition, without enlargement, then converted to WebP.
A complex silhouette on the sky
Pinnacles, towers, spiers and roofs cut out a very varied upper line, without the church being isolated from its environment.
Colorful grays
Stones and plaster combine blue, mauve, green and pink. The reds of the bricks and roofs provide heat points.
A touch adapted to the materials
The walls are built in small plates, the vegetation in softer accents and the sky in wide passages which maintain the atmosphere.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
This oil on canvas measuring 61 × 80 cm is identified as Wildenstein 473. It remains in a private collection.
Our Lady of the Nativity in Vétheuil
Monet painted the church which dominates the village of Vétheuil from the nearby slopes, retaining the ordinary houses between his viewpoint and the facade.
One of Vétheuil's first motifs
Installed in the village in 1878, Monet multiplied the views of the church, the Seine and the hillsides; this version favors proximity to buildings.
Monet & Architecture in London
The painting appeared in the Monet & Architecture exhibition presented at the National Gallery from April 9 to July 29, 2018.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Respect the interlocking of the white house, the facade and the tower.
- Retain the colorful shades of the stones without reducing them to a uniform gray.
- Maintain small scale figures on the way.
- Reproduce the blue shutters, red accents and greens of the foreground with restraint.
Work sheet
| Title | The Church of Vétheuil W473 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1878 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 61 × 80 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Private collection, Undocumented |
| Inventory | Wildenstein 473 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its colorful stones, blue shutters and village depth are suitable for a living room, entrance or library. An oak, warm gray or patinated gold frame highlights the architecture without making it solemn.
