À propos de l’œuvre
La prairie, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Vétheuil · 1879 · W535
The Prairie W535hand painted reproduction
A vast flowery meadow rises to a row of trees under a cloud-laden sky. Three small figures stand in the grass: one on the left, two further towards the center. Their red, blue and white clothing punctuates a field made up of thousands of green, yellow and blue touches. Signed lower left, this 81.3 × 99.7 cm oil on canvas is kept at the Joslyn Art Museum under number 1944.79. It corresponds to Wildenstein 535.
Look at the work
The field occupies almost the entire canvas and absorbs the figures: Monet transforms the meadow into a surface of light before making a decoration
The horizon is high, at tree level. This construction gives the meadow immense depth despite the absence of a marked path. The three figures serve as milestones: their decreasing size leads the gaze towards the center, while the darker trees stop the progression before the distant hillside.
Flowers and grass are not distributed regularly. Yellows, blues, greens and small red notes concentrate or are spaced out according to areas of light. The trunks and foliage are denser, but the sky takes on similar blues and whites; this colored continuity unifies the entire surface.
The Joslyn Art Museum preserves the painting under its English title The Meadow. It was exhibited in 1880 at La Vie moderne under the title La Prairie, then in 1889 in the exhibition Monet - Rodin comme Prairie in Vétheuil.
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.
The high horizon gives all its power to the field
The meadow occupies almost three-quarters of the height. The viewer does not overlook the scene: he seems placed at grass level, facing a surface that extends to the trees.
The figures organize the distance in small steps
Each character is reduced to a few colorful accents. Their arrangement avoids a rigid central axis and advances the gaze in stages through the thickness of the grass.
The edge opposes density and opening
The dark trees form an irregular screen, pierced with gaps in the sky and views of the hillside. They close the field without transforming the horizon into a continuous strip.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The single image represents exactly inventory 1944.79 and Wildenstein 535. The official Joslyn Art Museum file measures 2,000 × 1,608 px; it remains at its native definition, without artificial enlargement, then is encoded in real WebP.
Preserve the meadow as the main subject
The tree line should remain high and the figures small. Enlarge the characters or reduce the field would change W535 to a genre scene.
Maintain irregularity of floral touches
Yellow, blue and red appear in varying concentrations. Too uniform a decorative distribution would cause the light and depth of the terrain to be lost.
Differentiate foliage without black outline
Each tree has its own density and temperature. Deep greens, blues and whites are enough to separate them while keeping the edge crossed by the air.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Joslyn Art Museum documents La Prairie, oil on canvas from 1879, 81.3 × 99.7 cm, inventory 1944.79 and catalog Wildenstein 535.
Presented to the public in 1880
The painting appears at La Vie moderne under number 5, then at the seventh exhibition of independent artists in 1882. In 1889, Victor Chocquet lent it to the major exhibition Monet - Rodin.
By Victor Chocquet at the Joslyn Art Museum
Documented by collector Victor Chocquet before 1889, the work passed through the Marie Harriman gallery. William and Marie Harriman donated it to the Omaha Museum in 1944.
La Prairie, The Meadow and Prairie in Vétheuil
The different historical titles designate the same canvas, identifiable by the format of 81.3 × 99.7 cm, the number 1944.79 and the reference Wildenstein 535.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Wildenstein 535 version and the 1944.79 inventory
- The meadow occupying most of the canvas
- The three little figures spaced in the grass
- The irregular row of trees under the cloudy sky
Work sheet
| Title | The Prairie W535 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1879 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 81.3 × 99.7 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, United States |
| Inventory | 1944.79 · Wildenstein 535 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This large horizontal meadow is suitable for a living room, dining room or office. A pale blue, gray green or creamy yellow wall and a natural oak frame reinforce its opening and the vibration of the flowers.
