À propos de l’œuvre
Les chrysanthèmes, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · still life floral · 1882 · W634
Chrysanthemums W634hand painted reproduction
A bouquet of pink, white and red chrysanthemums rises above a dark vase placed on a reflective table. The flowers are not aligned: they overflow, fall and are superimposed in a luminous mass which occupies almost the entire canvas. Signed and dated 1882, this oil on canvas measuring 100.3 × 81.9 cm is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under number 29.100.106 and corresponds to Wildenstein 634.
Look at the work
A monumental bouquet shaped by color
The black-brown vase is placed in the low center and partially disappears in its own reflection. Above, the stems spread out in a fan shape. The lighter flower heads form a large irregular triangle, with a dark red flower near the center that focuses the gaze.
The blue-gray background is not uniform: clear passages surround the flowers, while the edges become deeper. On the table, the roses, whites and greens of the bouquet are repeated in blurred touches. This continuity transforms the surface into a luminous extension of the floral arrangement.
Monet gives still life the scale of a landscape: flowers become masses of light, foliage builds depth, and the table plays the role of reflective water.
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.
A deliberately asymmetrical floral silhouette
The bouquet widens further to the left and several flowers fall on the sides. This irregularity avoids the frozen decorative effect and suggests an arrangement observed as it begins to unfold.
Petals constructed without prior drawing
Chrysanthemums are rendered by short touches of white, pink, coral, carmine and yellow. Their volume arises from the contrast between these marks and the darker foliage, not from a precise outline.
The reflection as a second bouquet
The table takes up the colors of the composition in a more fluid form. This reflection widens the base, connects the vase to the bottom edge and adds a brilliant depth without introducing other objects.
Reference image
Read this specific version
A single exact image of W634 is used throughout the file and as the sole media for the product. The real WebP measures 1,638 × 1,986 px, preserved in its useful native definition without artificial enlargement.
Keep the red flower as an anchor
This dark and warm note stabilizes the center of the bouquet. It should neither disappear among the roses nor become too clear a circle.
Preserve white diversity
The light flowers mix cream, blue, yellow and pink. A uniform white would erase their relief and cut the bouquet from the gray blue atmosphere of the background.
Keep the vase and its reflection distinct but linked
The container remains dark and compact, while the reflection is more open and colorful. This difference in material is essential to the readability of the bottom of the canvas.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves Chrysanthemums, oil on canvas signed and dated 1882, 100.3 × 81.9 cm, inventory 29.100.106 and catalog Wildenstein 634.
One of around twenty floral still lifes from 1878 to 1883
The Met places this painting in a set of around twenty bouquets made by Monet during this period. He explores color and touches it on a scale comparable to that of his landscapes.
Presented in Paris in 1883 then in Brussels in 1886
The painting appeared at the personal exhibition organized at Durand-Ruel in Paris in 1883 with the Bouquet de sunflowers, then it was shown at the XX exhibition in Brussels in 1886.
Legacy of Louisine Havemeyer in 1929
The work belongs to the HO Havemeyer collection. She entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art by bequest from Mrs. HO Havemeyer and is numbered 29.100.106.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Wildenstein 634 version
- The monumental pink, white and red bouquet
- The dark vase in the lower center
- Colorful reflections on the table
Work sheet
| Title | Chrysanthemums W634 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1882 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 100.3 × 81.9 cm |
| Orientation | Vertical |
| Conservation | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States |
| Inventory | 29.100.106 · Wildenstein 634 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This vertical still life is suitable for a dining room, living room or entrance. A slate blue, mineral or cream pink wall and a dark setting reinforce its balance between bright bouquet and deep background.
