À propos de l’œuvre
La rue Montorgueil, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Paris decorated on June 30, 1878 · Musée d'Orsay
Rue Montorgueil, festival of June 30, 1878 W469hand painted reproduction
Seen from a window, rue Montorgueil becomes a torrent of crowds and tricolor flags. Monet painted the celebration of June 30, 1878, organized during the Universal Exhibition under the sign of peace, work and republican recovery. The event is captured from a distance, by a multitude of touches that make the city float.
Look at the work
The crowd and flags turn the street into a vibration
The facades converge towards a high horizon and narrow the perspective. On balconies and windows, red, white and blue flags multiply diagonally. Their succession accelerates the gaze towards the background, where the street disappears in a blue-gray light.
In the lower half, passers-by are not described individually. Vertical, point touches are enough to suggest hats, clothing and movements. A few large banners in the foreground stand out from this compact crowd and extend its agitation to the edges of the painting.
Monet counts neither flags nor passers-by: he paints the sound and light density of a street that has become an event.
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 overhanging viewpoint
The window keeps the painter out of the crowd. This distance transforms people into collective rhythm and reveals all the depth of the street.
The scattered tricolor
Reds, whites and blues appear on all scales. Their repetition connects facades, sky and crowds without resorting to continuous contours.
An almost vertical perspective
The narrow format accentuates the dive. The buildings rise to the sides while the human flow descends towards the viewer.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The WebP image is prepared from a high-definition reproduction of the work, reduced to 3,000 px on its largest side without oversampling. It allows you to observe crowd touches, flags and the material of the facades.
A street framed like a canyon
The side buildings form two walls and provide an opening of the sky in the center. The crowd occupies the bottom of this deep cut.
Three colors modulated everywhere
Reds go from vermilion to burgundy, blues from cobalt to gray, whites from ivory to pink; the tricolor remains alive without becoming decorative.
Scaling keys
The nearby flags are painted widely, those at the back in brief lines; the figures become simple colored commas.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Musée d'Orsay preserves this painting under the inventory RF 1982 71 and the reference Wildenstein 469.
The feast of June 30, 1878
It is not July 14: the celebration of peace and work accompanies the third Universal Exhibition and affirms the recovery of France after 1870.
A scene observed from a window
The museum highlights Monet's distanced position, who does not mingle with the crowd and almost adopts the role of a reporter of urban modernity.
Acquired by Georges de Bellio in July 1878
The collector purchased the painting directly from Monet on July 11, 1878. The work entered the national collections by donation in 1982.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Respect the diving and tight convergence of the facades.
- Vary the scale and inclination of the flags across the entire height.
- Suggest the crowd with distinct touches without individualizing each character.
- Retain the blue grays of the sky and perspective to balance the reds.
Work sheet
| Title | Rue Montorgueil, festival of June 30, 1878 W469 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1878 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 81 × 50 cm |
| Orientation | Vertical |
| Conservation | Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France |
| Inventory | RF 1982 71 · Wildenstein 469 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its vertical format, bright flags and urban depth give momentum to a narrow wall, entrance or office. A soft black, deep blue or matte gold frame underlines the tricolor rhythm and density of the city.
