Stacks of wheat (end of summer) – Monet

stacks of wheat (end of summer) – Monet – 1891

The monumental stacks that Claude Monet depicted in his series, “Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer)” – Monet, soared fifteen to twenty feet high, located just outside the artist’s farm in Giverny. From 1890 to 1891, he dedicated himself to this series both in the field, simultaneously painting on multiple easels, and in the studio, refining the pictorial harmonies. In May 1891, Monet showcased fifteen of these canvases side by side in a small room at the Durand-Ruel gallery in Paris. This unprecedented critical and financial success marked a turning point in Monet’s career, as well as in the history of French art. In this view, and in almost every autumn scene of the series, the conical peaks of the stacks break the horizon and thrust into the sky. However, in most of the winter views, which form the core of the series, the stacks appear wrapped in bands of hills and fields, as if they’re laid down for the season. To Monet, the stack symbolized sustenance and survival. He followed this series with other sequences depicting poplars, the façade of Rouen Cathedral, and later, his own garden at Giverny. The Art Institute owns the largest collection of Monet’s wheat stacks in the world.

Category: Monet Painting

Original format 60 x 100.5 cm
© The Art Institute of Chicago