Claude Monet in the Countryside

In "Monet: The Art of the Series," we begin our visual journey with the Impressionist's studies of haystacks and poplar trees.

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Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), Claude Monet ca. 1890-1891. Via the Art Institute of Chicago.

Claude Monet was just shy of fifty when he turned to the subject of haystacks.

Initially, it seemed a surprising choice for a man who, after thirty years of determination, had finally reached the brink of success. In 1886, longtime supporter and art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel had set sail for New York with numerous Impressionist canvases in tow—a decision that jump-started the movement’s international popularity. The following year, Monet, along with Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and countless others, participated in the Exposition Internationale at Georges Petit’s gallery in Paris. The Parisian bourgeoisie who once found the Impressionists shocking and horrid were changing their tunes, and the artists now experienced greater ease in selling their work.¹

Given this momentum, why would Monet turn to a subject that some of his contemporaries would criticize as unimaginative? Why was he so captivated by stacks of grain?

Monet’s eternal passion for the countryside motivated his decision to move with his family to Giverny in April 1883, just before the death of his ailing friend, Édouard Manet. While many of the original Impressionists were experimenting with different styles (such as Paul Cézanne’s later works, which would personify Post-Impressionism), Monet doubled down on his exploration of light and his efforts to capture fleeting visual impressions. While his earlier works sought to convey a more neutral record of what he saw, the artist was now introducing greater subjectivity in rendering his experience onto the canvas. As he explained, “For me, the subject is of secondary importance: I want to convey what is alive between me and the subject.”²

Stacks of Wheat (Sunset, Snow Effect), Claude Monet ca. 1890-1891. Via the Art Institute of Chicago.