À propos de l’œuvre
Les Nymphéas : Soleil couchant, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1914 -1926 · Orangery · INV 20103
Setting sun, Water Lilieshand painted reproduction
A yellow sun sets fire to the reeds at the edge of the pool, then its light disperses among the greens, purples, turquoise and reds of the water. For six meters, Monet pushes the touch to a freedom that announces abstraction.
Look at the work
The sunset becomes a burst of color in the middle of the pool
The yellow focus is to the left of the center, behind a mass of blue-green reeds. It is neither circular nor isolated: its light immediately mixes with grasses, pink reflections and brown areas which occupy the left half.
On the right, water lilies and turquoise reflections open up a cooler space. The composition therefore opposes a warm, vertical thrust to a horizontal, dark and changing body of water. The gestures remain visible, sometimes long, sometimes nervous or almost calligraphic.
Setting Sun does not describe a disk on the horizon: it paints the energy of light as it passes through reeds and breaks on the surface of the water.
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 yellow fireplace without a closed edge
The star is built by contaminating yellows, ochres and greens. A uniform circle would remove the impression of light absorbed by vegetation.
Two key regimes in the same panel
The reeds rise in vertical and nervous gestures; the water develops in horizontal lines and loops. Their meeting creates the main movement of the composition.
A dark range shot through with pure shards
Turquoise, purple, red and yellow appear in a brown and green base. Reproduction must keep these colors intense without evenly lightening the whole.
Details and visual documents
Observe the material and the exact version
The additional images show the difficult-to-read passages in the full view and, where it exists, the actual appearance of the work at the museum.
The Google Art Project scan of 8,714 × 2,892 px was reduced to 8,000 × 2,655 px; the detail measures 3,900 × 2,600 px. The official photograph of the room measures 850 × 595 px. No file has been enlarged; all three images are real WebPs.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
These facts concern this precise version and are verified from the notice of the institution which keeps it.
The Orangerie’s INV 20103 sign
Painted between 1914 and 1926, this unique oil panel on canvas measures 200 × 600 cm. It is mounted on the west wall of the first Water Lilies room.
The most flamboyant piece of the grand decor
The museum's notice emphasizes the freedom of touch and the audacity of colors. This writing particularly struck the abstract painters of the 20th century.
A peace monument offered in 1922
Sunset belongs to the ensemble donated by Monet to the State. The rooms designed for the eight compositions were inaugurated at the Orangerie in 1927.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact INV 20103 sign from the Orangerie
- The monumental format of 200 × 600 cm
- The yellow hearth melted into the reeds
- Free material without smoothing the keys
Work sheet
| Title | Setting sun, Water Lilies |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1914 - 1926 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 200 × 600 cm |
| Orientation | Monumental panoramic panel |
| Conservation | Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France |
| Inventory | INV 20103 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Solar yellow, emerald green, purple, turquoise and deep brown give this reproduction spectacular strength. Its horizontal format is suitable for a large ivory, terracotta, dark green or midnight blue wall.
