À propos de l’œuvre
Meules, milieu du jour, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Giverny · 1890 · W1271
Grinding wheels, midday W1271hand painted reproduction
Two gerbiers stand out in the full midday sun: the largest dominates the right and casts a blue-gray shadow, while the second is cut by the left edge. This oil on canvas measuring 65.6 × 100.6 cm, painted in 1890, is kept in the National Gallery of Australia under number 29073 and corresponds to Wildenstein 1271.
Look at the work
The vertical sun simplifies volumes and reveals colorful shadows
The large gerbier rises almost to the center, but its mass is shifted to the right. On the left, the partially off-camera shape brings the viewer closer; between the two, the light field leads towards a line of trees and very pale hills.
The pinkish yellow light barely crushes the details: it transforms them into touches. The shadows contain blue, lilac and green, while the straw receives ocher, orange and cream. The temperature difference builds volume.
W1271 does not represent just two gerbiers in the middle of the day: the canvas measures the strength of the sun by the length, color and density of their shadows.
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.
Asymmetrical framing
The left gerbier is cut by the edge and the main one is slightly off-center. This distribution avoids static composition and creates immediate proximity.
Shadow as second motive
The shadow of the large gerbier extends towards the foreground in blue-gray. Its surface counts as much as the mass of straw and records the time in the composition.
The Giverny series
The National Gallery links this painting to the systematic study of the same shepherds under different lights and seasons. W1271 belongs to the core painted after the 1890 harvest.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one reference image is used. The exact scan of W1271 is provided in true WebP of 3000 × 1945 px, without artificial enlargement.
Two volumes of different scale
The small left shape and the large right gerbier must maintain their exact ratio so that the field recedes naturally.
Blue shadows under yellow light
Additional contrast is essential. A gray or black shadow would remove the midday feeling.
A tight touch in the straw
Brushstrokes follow the cone and base of the gerbier, then become more horizontal and lighter in the field.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The National Gallery of Australia documents Grindstones, Midday, Oil on Canvas 1890, 65.6 × 100.6 cm, Inventory 29073 and Wildenstein 1271.
Purchased in 1979
The National Gallery acquired the painting in 1979. It is today considered one of the major paintings in the Australian national collection.
Gerbaria rather than hay
The conical shapes protect against sprays of unbeaten cereals. The French term Meules has long been translated too generally by Haystacks.
The same pattern at several times
Monet takes over the site in order to directly compare the transformations produced by the time, climate and season.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Version 29073, Wildenstein 1271
- The large gerbier off-center to the right
- The blue-gray shadow projected in the foreground
- The second gerbier cut by the left edge
Work sheet
| Title | Grinding wheels, midday W1271 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1890 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 65.6 × 100.6 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia |
| Inventory | 29073 · Wildenstein 1271 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
The panoramic format and softened yellows are suitable for a living room or dining room. A linen wall, light oak and lavender or gray blue textiles extend the shadows without cooling the whole.
