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When you move through the present day French country side in Normandy and Ile-de-France, it is easy to think that things there progress as they have always done, following the seasons of nature. Indeed, the idyllic vistas on offer make it hard to think that anything could be missing from this traditional Norman landscape. However, on closer inspection there is something missing. The haystacks. Before the invention of the combined harvester the landscape was dotted with them from late summer until spring the next year. This was to keep the wheat in good shape before it could be threshed. The threshing machines would travel from village to village and it could be quite a while before it reached any given town. In the meantime, the wheat was stored inside these haystacks in order keep it fresh and well preserved. This could have to last a while as the last wheat was often not processed before the end of spring the year following its harvest. So the haystacks were an almost permanent feature. However, while the haystacks were thus an aesthetic feature of the countryside for 100 years, they were not really appreciated as a thing of beauty. Indeed, they were considered common and not of any value aside from as a storage facility for wheat. This perception changed significantly when the haystacks outside of the small village of Giverny were used by French painter Claude Monet for a series of paintings done between the summer of 1890 and the spring of 1891. Monet's initial idea was actually to paint only a few canvasses with the haystacks but that changed once he commenced on the project. Monet's true study was how the different light of different times, weather conditions and seasons affect their subject and create amazing light and color effects. Once he embarked on painting the haystacks he immediately seized upon how many different ways light could affect the way they were perceived by him. As a result, he dramatically increased the number of canvasses he would paint for the series from a few to more than twenty paintings. Monet worked on these paintings in parallel. He only painted on a given canvas when the colors and conditions were right for that particular perception. Once this changed, he would change to a different canvas that reflected this new reality. This way, he worked on several canvasses on any given day. The final series was completed in his studio to ensure both the required contrasts and the harmony of the entire series. The Haystacks series was a financial success for Monet. When he exhibited 15 of the paintings from the series in 1891, the exhibition was met with critical acclaim. This also translated into a business success as all 15 paintings were sold within the first few days of the exhibition. It was this newfound success that helped Monet buy his house in Giverny and start work on his water lily pond there. Today, the haystacks are gone from the landscape but Monet's garden is still there. But maybe it should actually be considered to re-establish a few haystacks and give Giverny back this clear feature of the classic French countryside. When Monet painted them calls for the conservation of rural French traditions followed. Maybe the land of Monet would also today benefit from the traditional attribute that helped finance the nearby water lily pond. To see a large selection of hand painted oil painting reproductions from all the great artists please check out Art Reproductions. This is an original article first published as Monet and the Haystacks of Giverny.
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claude monet, giverny, haystacks, impressionist, oil painting,
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