Haystacks - Paintings by Claude Monet

Monet’s Haystack series comprises 25 to 28 paintings which were executed in 1891. In the same year, 15 of these were exhibited and immediately sold. This was not only a monetary success taking account of the adverse reactions that Monet’s previous works had received. All of Monet’s haystack paintings are executed as oil and measure about 25 × 39 inches, i.e 60 cm × 100 cm.

A second series, usually referred to as the Giverny series, showing hay- or grainstacks was executed by the Monet one year earlier (1888) from the preceding harvest at Giverny. All three show each two grainstacks in front of a hill under the influence of different seasons, weather and light. One shows the stacks in the light of evening sun, another during daylight, set against a blue sky and a line of trees (poplars) while the third shows the haystacks in a white and frozen landscape under either a rising or a setting sun.

However, typically, the Haystack paintings are associated with the works from Monet’s second, larger, series. The series comprises 25 paintings, most of the showing each two haystacks. The artist began working on his Haystacks series in 1890 and with this he entered also a new phase: He studied his subjects under the influence of changing light and weather conditions. Several of his most famous series were created this way: starting out with the haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, the House of Parliament, Water Lilies or Mornings at the Seine should follow. All were painted during different seasons, different times of the day but basically keeping the same angle for the motif. Thus, Monet was able to reproduce a perfect impression of the changing impression a motif would make during a day and across the seasons.

Monet used a method where he worked on a number of paintings at the same time by spending just a little while on each before moving on to the next. This meant he had to work very quickly as he worked from one canvas to another. His stepdaughter, Blanche, helped him in this by sliding the canvases onto his easel.

Monet’s haystacks were a considerable influence on latter day painters like Vlaminck, Derain, Kadinsky and the Fauves. Kadinsky in fact, saw Monet’s paintings in Moscow and Munich and said that they had a profound influence over him.

The majority of the Haystack series canvases fetched a minimum of 1000 francs each. This not only helped Monet who had often monetary problems, but also hiked up the rate of Monet’s paintings further. He used the money from the sale of these paintings to buy the house and surrounding land in Giverny. This is where he got the water lily pond built, which he later used as the subject of his paintings.

Monet Haystack Gallery