À propos de l’œuvre
Neige au soleil couchant, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · A winter road with declining daylight · Rouen Museum of Fine Arts
Snow at sunset W145hand painted reproduction
Two walkers walk away on a road lined with bare trees. The melting snow reveals the earth's ochres and receives long blue-gray shadows. The sun, hidden behind the clouds, nevertheless warms the sky and transforms this cold landscape into a subtle study of the last lights.
Look at the work
The shadows lead the walkers towards the sunset
The road widens in the foreground then narrows between two rows of trees. On the left, nearby trunks cast long oblique shadows. In the center, two dark silhouettes give scale and extend the direction of perspective.
The snow is neither white nor continuous: gray, blue, cream and ocher earth alternate on uneven ground. The sky diffuses a yellow light behind the clouds. The very dark branches cut out this light without closing the horizon.
The sun remains invisible; its presence is measured by the shadows, the yellows of the sky and the warm reflections of the melting snow.
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 perspective punctuated by trees
The trunks decrease regularly towards the buildings at the back. Their succession structures the road while retaining the natural irregularity of the landscape.
Long shadows as diagonals
The blue-gray bands cross the ground from the left. They give direction to the light and animate the large, clear surface.
Snow mixed with earth
The ochres visible between the white plates are essential. They reflect the thaw and warm a palette dominated by grays.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The unique reference corresponds to the work MNR 1002, classified Wildenstein 145 and deposited in Rouen. The exact photograph was reduced without enlargement to 3,000 × 1,928 px then converted to WebP.
Two silhouettes in the center of the road
They should remain small and dark. Their scale gives all its depth to the avenue of trees.
Whites broken by thawing
Snow combines warm gray, pale yellow and blue. Uniform white would remove the feeling of damp ground.
A bright sky without a solar disk
The yellow zone diffuses behind the clouds. Its soft edge distinguishes this work from a spectacular sunset.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
Painted in 1869, this oil on canvas measuring 43.4 × 65.3 cm is kept under the number MNR 1002, deposited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Rouen and classified Wildenstein 145.
A road, winter effect
The notice also retains the title Road, winter effect, setting sun. It describes the subject precisely: partially melted snow, road and evening light.
From Gautier to Depeaux and Silberberg
The work first belonged to the painter Amand Gautier, friend of Monet, then notably passed through the François Depeaux and Max Silberberg collections.
An MNR work entrusted to the National Museums
Returning from Germany in 1994, the painting is listed in the inventory of National Recovery Museums. It has been deposited in Rouen since 1995 pending the identification of its rightful owner.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Respect the long shadows that cross the road.
- Keep the two walkers on their small scale.
- Mix ochres, grays and blues in the melting snow.
- Keep the yellow light of the sky soft and veiled.
Work sheet
| Title | Snow at sunset W145 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1869 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 43.4 × 65.3 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Museum of Fine Arts, Rouen, France |
| Inventory | MNR 1002 · Wildenstein 145 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its warm grays and calm ochres are suitable for a refined bedroom, office or living room. A gray oak, walnut or matte black frame accompanies the trees without cooling the sunset light.
