À propos de l’œuvre
Le village de La Roche-Blond au soleil couchant, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Vallée de la Creuse · 1889 · W1238
The Village of La Roche-Blond, evening effect W1238hand painted reproduction
The village of La Roche-Blond stands out in silhouette at the top of a green and red slope, while a pink light invades the evening sky. Signed Claude Monet 89, this oil on canvas measuring 73.9 × 92.8 cm is kept at the Art Museum of Mie Prefecture and corresponds to Wildenstein 1238.

Look at the work
The village becomes a silhouette between the slope and the pink sky
The hill climbs from both edges towards the houses grouped on the ridge. A clear path winds through the center and connects the river in the foreground to the village. The buildings are reduced to a few dark roofs and gables.
Green, red, brown and mauve build the slope, while the sky unfolds in pink, cream and pale blue. The river takes on these colors in horizontal touches. The contrast between the dark ridge and the bright sky fixes the effect of the evening.
In W1238, a few roofs are enough to form a village: the main thing is the climb up the slope, the clear path and the pink light which absorbs the details.
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 triangular composition
The slopes lead towards the group of houses placed high up. This climb gives the village its presence despite the smallness of the buildings.
The path as a connecting line
The clear trace winds through the center of the slope. It crosses greens and reds, then leads the eye from the water to the inhabited ridge.
An evening without visible sun
The solar disk remains out of field. Pink, pale yellow and blue are enough to light up the sky and transform the silhouettes of the village.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one exact image of W1238 is used. The real WebP measures 800 × 638 px, available resolution preserved without artificial enlargement.
Preserve the irregular silhouette of houses
The roofs do not form a regular line. Their variations in height and neighboring trees give the summit its recognizable rhythm.
Keep the path clear but discreet
It must guide the eye without becoming a white band. Pink, beige and green passages integrate it into the slope.
Keep the reds under the greens
The hill combines vegetation and earth in superimposed touches. Neutralizing the reds would lose the heat that responds to the evening sky.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Mie Prefectural Art Museum documents The Village of La Roche-Blond, evening effect, oil on canvas from 1889, 73.9 × 92.8 cm, signed lower left and listed Wildenstein 1238.
More than twenty landscapes of the Creuse
In 1889, Monet stayed in the valley and worked despite changing weather. La Roche-Blond is one of the motifs that he uses under different effects.
Two views very close to the village
Another painting shows La Roche-Blond at sunset. W1238 is distinguished by its evening effect, its diffused light and the precise version preserved in Mie.
A donation from the Okada Cultural Foundation
The work was donated to the museum by the Okada Cultural Foundation. Its provenance mentions in particular the Laurence Minot and Vredenburgh Minot collections.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Wildenstein 1238 version
- The dark village aligned on the ridge
- The clear path in the center of the slope
- The pink and blue sky of the evening effect
Work sheet
| Title | The Village of La Roche-Blond, evening effect W1238 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1889 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 73.9 × 92.8 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan |
| Inventory | Wildenstein 1238 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Its deep greens and pastel sky are suitable for a living room, bedroom or library. A gray pink, cream or sage green wall and dark wood take up the contrast between the ridge and the evening.
