À propos de l’œuvre
La meule, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1893 · D'Amour Museum 44.06 · W1364
Grind wheel W1364hand painted reproduction
A single millstone stands in a yellow and green meadow, in front of a row of bluish trees. Painted in 1893, two years after the famous series of twenty-five millstones, this canvas takes up the motif in a more open and summery form. The agricultural object remains central, but it fully belongs to the light of the field.
Look at the work
A solitary millstone under the light of Giverny, after the great series of 1890 -1891
The millstone occupies the center right and stands out in front of a strip of trees. The meadow fills the entire foreground; the sky only appears as a thin, clear area. This horizon height gives the field an almost tactile presence.
Ochres, pinks and purples build the millstone without regular outline. Around it, greens are mixed with yellow and blue. The trees form a colder curtain that advances the warm volume, while connecting its color to the shadows of the landscape.
W1364 extends the Meules experience: the object is not isolated from the landscape, it becomes the instrument that reveals the precise quality of light.
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 revival of the motif after the famous series
The Springfield Museums recalls that Monet painted this canvas in 1893, two years after the twenty-five Meules of 1890 -1891. He therefore continues to explore the same subject, but in a greener field and under a more diffuse light.
A volume constructed without hard drawing
The rounded silhouette is held together by superimposed ocher, pink, blue and purple touches. The edge merges in places with the meadow and trees. Reproduction must preserve this transition instead of surrounding the millstone with a uniform line.
The foreground as a color field
The meadow takes up a large part of the format. Its yellow and green touches create a lateral movement that responds to the curtain of trees. This area should not be treated as a simple flat bottom.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one reference image is used. The best exact public file measures 1980 × 1215 px; it has been kept at this definition and converted into a real WebP, without artificial enlargement.
A warm shape in front of a screen of cold trees
The millstone comes off thanks to the temperature difference more than the value. The bluish trees and the yellow meadow establish the two planes which surround it.
Pink, purple, meadow green and blue gray ocher
Warm tones dominate the straw, but purple accents give it relief. Greens contain yellow in the foreground and turn bluer near the row of trees.
A rhythmic touch across the entire surface
The museum describes the broken and regular gestures used by Monet to capture the light. Their direction varies depending on the meadow, the millstone and the foliage, which keeps each material readable.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts preserves this Grindstone under number 44.06, identified Wildenstein 1364.
D'Amour Museum 44.06, W1364
This oil on canvas from 1893 measures 26 × 40 inches, or approximately 66 × 101.6 cm. It is signed and dated "Claude Monet 93" at the bottom left.
The James Philip Gray Collection
The work belongs to the Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, one of the Springfield Museums. Its collection credit is The James Philip Gray Collection and its accession number 44.06.
After the twenty-five millstones
Between 1890 and 1891, Monet systematically painted the gerbiers near his house according to the time and the season. W1364 shows that the motif continued to interest him in 1893, in a composition more widely open to meadows and trees.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The D'Amour Museum version 44.06 and Wildenstein 1364
- The original horizontal format of 26 × 40 inches
- The silhouette of the millstone melted in places in the meadow
- The pink ochres balanced by the purples and blues of the curtain of trees
Work sheet
| Title | Grind wheel W1364 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1893 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 66 × 101.6 cm (26 × 40 in.) |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, United States |
| Inventory | 44.06 · Wildenstein 1364 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Pink, purple, meadow green, gray blue and soft yellow ocher give this reproduction a natural warmth. It is suitable for a dining room, living room or country house with oak, linen and a discreet golden setting.
