À propos de l’œuvre
La Débâcle à Vétheuil, avec vue sur Lavacourt, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Vétheuil and Lavacourt · 1880 · W561
The Debacle in Vétheuil, view of Lavacourt W561hand painted reproduction
After the frozen Seine breaks, large white and blue-gray plaques drift in front of Lavacourt. The village forms a thin line in the distance; on the right, bare trees, a dark bank and a small boat interrupt the expanse of pink water. Signed and dated 1880, this oil on canvas measuring 72.5 × 99.5 cm belongs to the Musée d'Orsay under number RF 1976 20, is deposited at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille and corresponds to Wildenstein 561.
Look at the work
Broken ice occupies the foreground like a relief, while Lavacourt remains almost immaterial on the horizon
The nearest plates enter from the left edge and are described by thick impasto. Their size decreases towards the center, where the river opens onto calmer water. This progression gives a concrete measure of the distance to the houses.
The right bank forms a dark diagonal extended by bare trees. Their vertical trunks oppose the horizontal ice cubes and lead towards the small boat. Beyond, the pink gray sky and the village share neighboring tones which envelop the distance in mist.
The debacle is both an event and a study of matter: the heavy ice advances towards the gaze, but its colors take up those of the sky and make it surprisingly luminous.
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 phenomenon observed during the winter of 1879 -1880
The Seine had frozen in exceptional cold before breaking in the mild weather. Installed in Vétheuil, Monet followed the transformation of the river and painted several distinct states of the moving ice.
A depth obtained by differences in material
The ice cubes in the foreground are thick and contrasting; the middle water receives finer touches; the village is posed by rapid signs. The bill changes with distance without becoming smooth.
The panoramic setting lets the river breathe
The width of the canvas places the phenomenon before any human anecdote. The boat remains small and the houses are not very detailed, so that water, plates and the sky really dominate the scene.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The single image is a real photograph of the RF 1976 20 version presented with its frame at the museum. The file of 2931 × 2280 px is encoded as a real WebP at its native definition.
Maintain the irregular mass of large ice cubes
Their contours should not form repetitive patterns. Each plate has a different orientation, thickness and color which make the current collide.
Preserve roses in water and sky
These shades warm the landscape and respond to the blues of the ice. A purely white and gray scale would make the scene colder but less faithful to W561.
Keep the village very light
Lavacourt must remain readable without becoming detailed like an urban view. Its small facades and roofs serve as a scale for the river and belong to the distant atmosphere.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Musée d'Orsay documents La Débâcle in Vétheuil, with a view of Lavacourt, oil on canvas from 1880, 72.5 × 99.5 cm, RF inventory 1976 20 and Wildenstein catalog 561.
Signed and dated Claude Monet 1880
The mention is at the bottom left. It clearly places this version in the group created around Vétheuil immediately after the freezing of the Seine.
Lavacourt observed from Vétheuil
The two villages face each other on either side of the river. Monet uses this familiar width to visually measure the accumulation and then dispersion of the plates.
A dation to the state in 1976
From the Denise and Maurice Masson collection, the painting entered the national collections by donation. It was deposited the same year at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, where it bears DP 1891.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Wildenstein 561 version
- The large ice cubes in impasto in the foreground
- The village of Lavacourt reduced to a distant strip
- The small boat and the bare trees on the right
Work sheet
| Title | The Debacle in Vétheuil, view of Lavacourt W561 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1880 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 72.5 × 99.5 cm |
| Orientation | Panoramic horizontal |
| Conservation | Musée d'Orsay, deposit at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, Lille, France |
| Inventory | RF 1976 20 · deposit DP 1891 · Wildenstein 561 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This panoramic landscape is suitable above a sofa, bed or large sideboard. A pearl gray, powder pink or mist blue wall and a light wood or aged silver frame extend its winter light without hardening the contrasts.
