À propos de l’œuvre
Rue sous la neige, Argenteuil, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Boulevard Saint-Denis under the snow · National Gallery in London
Street under the snow, Argenteuil W352hand painted reproduction
A snowy road crosses Argenteuil between hedges, trees and houses almost dissolved in mist. A few figures advance slowly, while two brown tracks wind towards the church and the horizon. Monet displays on his largest canvas in the winter series a range of whites, blues and grays warmed by rare pinks and reds.
Look at the work
The road, wheel tracks and passers-by emerge from an almost monochrome atmosphere
The road occupies the entire width of the foreground before narrowing towards the center left. Low hedges border it, then bare trees climb on each side. In the middle, a figure dressed in blue and several more distant silhouettes give scale to the thickness of the snow.
The two brown furrows in the foreground are neither straight nor parallel: they undulate and lead towards the fog-shrouded buildings. The church and recent houses on Boulevard Saint-Denis lose their contours in the sky. A few red touches return to the branches, traces and vegetation to connect the different areas.
The subject is not just the snowy street, but how the cold, fog and late day reduce the entire city to tonal ratios.
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 guided by irregular traces
The furrows start near the viewer then approach each other without forming a rigid geometric construction. Their sinuous movement gives depth and recalls the difficult traffic on thick snow.
A large canvas devoted to the general effect
At 71.1 × 91.4 cm, this work is the largest of Argenteuil's snow-covered views. Monet simplifies certain details to dominate the atmospheric unity, diffused light and the feeling of space.
Rare colors distributed in white
Blues, grays and whites occupy most of the surface. The pink of the sky, the browns of the tracks and a few reds in the trees appear at calculated intervals and prevent the scene from becoming cold or uniform.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The image corresponds to the National Gallery's NG6607 inventory and Wildenstein number 352. The high definition file was limited to 3,000 × 2,373 px then encoded in WebP, without artificial enlargement.
The snow has thicker material in the foreground
The National Gallery observes that road painting is heavier there than elsewhere. This density must remain visible without transforming the ground into uniform decorative relief.
The branches are drawn after the large masses
Their fine, calligraphic features pass over the sky and the houses. They structure the edges of the composition while retaining interruptions that allow mist to circulate.
Buildings disappear in distance
The church and facades must not be artificially reinforced. Their values close to the sky allow the gaze to measure depth before the horizon dissolves.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
Painted in 1875, this oil on canvas measuring 71.1 × 91.4 cm is signed Claude Monet. It is kept at the National Gallery in London under the NG6607 inventory and classified Wildenstein 352.
Boulevard Saint-Denis looked towards the Seine
The National Gallery places the motif near Monet's house, towards the junction with rue de la Voie-des-Bans. The station was behind the artist and the Seine beyond the buildings.
One of eighteen views of Argenteuil under the snow
The museum links the painting to the exceptional winter of 1874 -1875. Monet varies dimensions and points of view; this painting is the largest and favors atmosphere rather than anecdote.
From Théodore Duret to the Simon Sainsbury legacy
Duret bought the work from Monet in December 1879. After several French and American collections, it belonged to Simon Sainsbury, who bequeathed it to the National Gallery in 2006.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Preserve the clear, almost monochrome scale of the road.
- Give the furrows an irregular and deep movement.
- Keeping the church and houses melted into fog.
- Distribute the red and blue touches without accentuating them.
Work sheet
| Title | Street under the snow, Argenteuil W352 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1875 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 71.1 × 91.4 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | National Gallery, London, United Kingdom |
| Inventory | NG6607 · Wildenstein 352 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This large winter landscape is suitable for a bright living room, bedroom or office. An off-white, ash oak or gray blue frame reinforces the cool shades; soft side light reveals the denser material of the road.
