À propos de l’œuvre
Les iris jaunes, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1924 -1925 · the irises of the Giverny garden
The Yellow Iriseshand painted reproduction
Dark leaves rise like a wave from the left edge; a few yellow flowers pierce this plant mass and stand out against a lilac background where the sky, water and light seem to merge.
Look at the work
Yellow is not dominant: it arises in the heart of a vast green movement
The composition does not present an isolated bouquet. The irises occupy a continuous field of long curved leaves, cut by the edges of the canvas. The densest mass rises to the left, then descends to the right in a series of arcs which lead the eye to the orange flowers of the lower edge.
The light background is never empty. Monet superimposes touches of blue, pink, white and purple, without specifying whether it is a sky, a water surface or diffused light. Yellow flowers thus become points of intensity, rare and irregular, rather than a repeated decorative motif.
In this late canvas, the flower is no longer an object placed in front of a background: it appears as an instant of color in the middle of the movement of the leaves.
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 plant wave
The leaves start from the bottom, bend and fall. Their successive directions organize the painting without central axis or symmetry.
Yellow distributed in small bursts
The main flowers are not aligned. They punctuate the green at different heights and prevent the eye from stopping on a single center.
A light background constructed in layers
The lilacs, blue and pink, are placed in visible touches. They give air to the composition while retaining the materiality of the painting.
Details and visual documents
Observe the material and the exact version
The additional images show the difficult-to-read passages in the full view and, where it exists, the actual appearance of the work at the museum.
The official image of the Marmottan Monet Museum measures 1500 × 1282 px. The two details of 900 × 1100 px and 850 × 850 px are native cropping, without oversampling. All three files are real WebPs.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
These facts concern this precise version and are verified from the notice of the institution which keeps it.
A work from recent years
The Marmottan Monet Museum dates Les Iris jaunes between 1924 and 1925, at the end of the artist's long exploration of the Giverny garden.
An unsigned canvas
The notice specifies that the painting is not signed. It measures 130 × 152 cm and corresponds to Wildenstein number 1839.
The legacy of Michel Monet in 1966
Preserved by the family, the painting entered the museum with the legacy of Michel Monet. It bears inventory number 5095.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The different curves of each large sheet
- The lemon, ocher and orange yolks of the flowers
- The depth of the foliage without blackening the greens
- The lilac and pale blue passages of the luminous background
Work sheet
| Title | The Yellow Irises |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1924 - 1925 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 130 × 152 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Marmottan Monet Museum, Paris, France |
| Inventory | 5095 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This large, slightly horizontal square brings plant energy to the room without losing its softness. Deep greens and yellows match stone, linen, gray blue or sage green walls.
