À propos de l’œuvre
Meules, effet d'hiver, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1891 · Series of Grinding Wheels · W1279
Grinding wheels, snow and sun effect W1279hand painted reproduction
Two gerbiers stand out in a snow-covered field, under a cold pink light which transforms the shadows into wide lavender blue beaches. This oil on canvas measuring 65.4 × 92.1 cm, painted in 1891, is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under number 29.100.109 and corresponds to Wildenstein 1279.
Look at the work
Snow reveals the changing color of shadows
The large millstone in the foreground occupies almost the entire left half. A second, smaller and slightly offset, gives scale and opens the space towards the back of the field. The silhouettes remain simple, but their edges vibrate on contact with snow and bluish air.
Light does not rest on a uniform white. Monet superimposes powdery pinks, pale yellows, lilacs and cool blues. The lit side of the shepherds retains tones of straw, while their shadows stretch across the bluish-purple ground and structure the depth.
In W1279, the subject isn't just the millstone: it's how snow, sun and shadow change its color from minute to minute.
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.
Two masses to measure distance
The nearby gerbier is broad, low and strongly modeled; the bottom one is more compact and less contrasted. Their difference in scale is enough to create depth despite the almost erased horizon.
Colorful shadows
The shadows are neither gray nor black. They combine blue, purple and a few pink covers, while the snow reflects the light of the sky. Preserving these relationships avoids hardening the winter scene.
A painting from the first major series
Between 1890 and 1891, Monet devoted around thirty paintings to the gerbiers located near his house in Giverny. Fifteen versions were presented together at Durand-Ruel in 1891, making Les Meules his first series exhibited as a set.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one image is used: the high definition reproduction of version 29.100.109, cropped on the canvas then converted into a real WebP of 3,000 × 2,131 px from a source of 3,811 × 2,131 px, without artificial enlargement.
A stable but asymmetrical composition
The large millstone advances to the left, the small one retreats to the right and the two shadows further shift the center of gravity. This asymmetry prevents the pattern from becoming decorative or fixed.
A winter crossed by warm tones
The roses and ochres of the straw remain visible in the heart of the blues. Faithful reproduction must maintain these simultaneous temperatures, without excessively whitening the snow.
A material that follows the form
The keys follow the slope of the gerbiers, becoming more horizontal on the ground and more flexible in the sky. The change in orientation of the gesture gives volume without a closed contour.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Metropolitan Museum of Art documents Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun), oil on canvas from 1891, 65.4 × 92.1 cm, inventory 29.100.109.
About thirty millstones
Monet observes the same field in different seasons, times and climates. Repetition of the pattern allows him to concentrate the painting on the light and not on a new subject on each canvas.
Fifteen paintings by Durand-Ruel
In May 1891, fifteen millstones were shown together in Paris. Their rapprochement immediately makes variations in sun, fog, frost and snow perceptible.
Havemeyer legacy from 1929
The work entered the Met with the HO Havemeyer collection, by bequest from Mrs. HO Havemeyer in 1929. Today it is numbered 29.100.109.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version 29.100.109, Wildenstein 1279
- The original format of 65.4 × 92.1 cm
- Lavender blue shadows on the pink snow
- The difference in matter between the two gerbiers, the ground and the sky
Work sheet
| Title | Grinding wheels, snow and sun effect W1279 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1891 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 65.4 × 92.1 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States |
| Inventory | 29.100.109 · Wildenstein 1279 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its cold roses, lilacs and straw tones are suitable for a bedroom, a quiet living room or an office. An ivory wall, light oak and gray blue textiles extend its winter light without reducing the shades.
