À propos de l’œuvre
Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Complete study for the great composition of Fontainebleau · Pushkin Museum
Lunch on the Grass W62hand painted reproduction
Twelve elegant walkers gather around a white tablecloth in the heart of the forest. Light dresses, black jackets, hats and food are inscribed under a vault of foliage crossed by bursts of sunlight. In this comprehensive study, Monet organizes an ambitious scene where life-size figures were to belong to the light of the outdoors as much as to the story of the meal.
Look at the work
The clearing becomes a natural scene where light connects each group
On the left, three standing figures form a first group dominated by the yellow dress and the white dress. In the center, a man in a gray jacket stands near a seated woman, while several guests take their places around the tablecloth. On the right, a large light birch tree separates two men dressed in black.
The tablecloth advances almost to the bottom edge with plates, bread, a bottle and baskets. Above, the leaves are painted with touches of yellow, green and bluish which allow gaps of sky to filter through. White clothes receive the same colorful reflections as the ground and trees.
The subject isn't just a social picnic: Monet seeks to hold a monumental figure painting in the unstable light of a real forest.
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 study for a project of more than six meters
Monet conceived Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe as an ambitious response to Manet and as his major sending to the Salon of 1866. The large canvas remained unfinished and was only known through two fragments at the Musée d'Orsay; the Moscow study preserves the entire composition.
Separate groups but connected by looks
Standing, sitting or lying down, the characters form several groups around the tablecloth. The gestures, the orientations of the faces and the diagonals of the dresses prevent this numerous meeting from becoming a simple frieze.
Spotted light as true unity
Small light touches on the leaves, cold reflections on the dresses and warm bursts on the ground respond to each other. The discontinuous light thus passes through the figures and the landscape without artificially favoring one or the other.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The visual corresponds to the complete study of Luncheon on the Grass, inventory 0-3307 of the Pushkin Museum and Wildenstein number 62. The museum source of 10,000 × 7,069 px was reduced to 3,000 × 2,121 px then encoded in real WebP.
Whites receive many colors
Blues, mauves, yellows and greens appear in the robes and the tablecloth according to the shade of the leaves. A uniform white would destroy the luminous unity of the clearing.
The foliage remains composed of distinct touches
Dark masses serve as depth, while lime green, olive and light blue accents signal exposed leaves. Their spacing circulates air.
Each figure maintains a precise silhouette
The scene has many partially superimposed characters. Each person's pose, costume and scale ratio must remain readable despite the freedom of the touch.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
Signed and dated 1866, this oil on canvas measures 130 × 181 cm. It is kept at the Pushkin Museum under inventory 4-3307 and listed as Wildenstein 62.
A painted study for a monumental composition
Monet worked in the Fontainebleau forest from 1865, made drawings and had his relatives pose, notably Frédéric Bazille and Camille Doncieux. The study sets the general organization before the transition to very large format canvas.
Chat with Manet’s Lunch on the Grass
Monet deliberately takes up the title made famous by Manet, but replaces the provocative confrontation of the 1863 painting with a dressed contemporary meeting. His challenge mainly concerns natural light and the monumental scale.
By Serge Shchukin at the Pushkin Museum
The work belonged to the great Moscow collector Serge Shchukin. It then entered Russian public collections and joined the Pushkin Museum in 1948.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Maintain exact balance of figure groups.
- Circulate spotted light on clothing and foliage.
- Preserve foods and accessories without over-detailing them.
- Maintain the contrast of the light birch on the right.
Work sheet
| Title | Lunch on the Grass W62 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1866 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 130 × 181 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Pushkin National Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia |
| Inventory | Ö-3307 · Wildenstein 62 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This large horizontal composition is suitable for a living room, dining room or library. A walnut, deep green or patinated gold frame accompanies the forest; an ivory or linen wall reveals light dresses.
