À propos de l’œuvre
Femme assise dans le jardin, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · A figure in full sun in front of the Argenteuil house · Hermitage Museum
Woman sitting in garden W407hand painted reproduction
A woman dressed in light sits on the lawn, slightly shifted to the right. Behind her, a band of red flowers crosses the garden and the facade of the house bursts with yellows and oranges. Monet contrasts the green shadow of the foreground with a warm light which seems to dissolve walls, curtains and foliage.
Look at the work
A light color connects the shaded lawn to the solar facade
The figure is seen in profile, wearing a brown hat and sitting directly on the grass. Her beige dress spreads out in a triangle in the foreground. A small dark object near her hands animates the calm line of the body.
The house is not described by precise contours. Touches of yellow, cream and pink suggest walls, shutters and curtains, partially hidden by the trees. The red row of the massif separates this light from the deep green of the lawn.
The woman does not stand out through drawing, but through the gradual transition from cold greens to beiges then to the bright yellows of the house.
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.
Three large bands of color
The green lawn, the red massif and the golden facade stack horizontally. The figure crosses the first two and connects the entire composition.
A light that dissolves architecture
Doors, windows and curtains remain perceptible, but their limits vibrate in the yellows. The house becomes as much a sun effect as a building.
A silhouette constructed in neighboring tones
The dress shares the gray greens of the grass and the creams of the facade. This continuity avoids the effect of a cut-out character.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The unique reference corresponds to the inventory ʻonds-10615 of the Hermitage Museum, Wildenstein version 407. The file of 3,168 × 2,432 px was reduced without enlargement to 3,000 × 2,303 px then converted to WebP.
The dress forms a low triangle
Its clear mass remains horizontal and close to the ground. It should not be straightened like a figure resting on a chair.
The red massif crosses the entire width
Its flowers vary from dark red to orange-pink and form a visual threshold in front of the house.
The yellows on the facade are not uniform
Creams, ochres, pinks and small brown shadows give depth to the warm light.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
Painted in 1876, this oil on canvas measuring 50 × 65.5 cm is kept at the Hermitage Museum under the inventory ʻonds-10615 and classified Wildenstein 407.
The house occupied from 1874
The scene represents the garden of Monet's second house in Argenteuil. The painter frequently used the facade, flowerbeds and members of his family as motifs between 1875 and 1876.
A work passed through the Otto Krebs collection
Before entering the Hermitage Museum, the painting belonged to the German industrialist and collector Otto Krebs, who had assembled an important collection of modern French paintings.
A precisely listed version
Inventory ʻilt-10615 and Wildenstein number 407 distinguish this canvas from other seated figures or resting scenes painted by Monet in the same garden.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Keep your face seated low on the lawn.
- Pitch the cold greens to the warm yellows of the facade.
- Maintain the red line of the massif.
- Suggest the house with touches rather than sharp outlines.
Work sheet
| Title | Woman sitting in garden W407 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1876 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 50 × 65.5 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
| Inventory | ʻoult-10615 · Wildenstein 407 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its warm greens and yellows are suitable for a living room, bedroom or veranda. A light oak, matte gold or olive green frame accompanies the solar atmosphere of the garden.
