Poppies appear in several paintings by Claude Monet: The Poppy Field, near Argenteuil or at Giverny and Poppies blooming are the most famous ones.

The Poppy Field, near Argenteuil was executed by Monet as oil on canvas, today exhibited at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. The painting measures 19-5/8×25-5/8 inches. Poppies blooming was painted in 1873 and conjures up a feeling of taking a walk through the fields on a day in the summer months.

In the painting, Poppies blooming, Monet tried to capture the ever changing quality of light. He based the work on the fields of wild flowers just outside a place called Argenteuil. After returning from England, Monet had lived in Argenteuil from 1871 to 1878. The colorful landscape of the region permitted Monet to work on the concept of »en plein air« painting. This work of art shows how passionate Monet was about the use of vibrant colors. He has used bright blobs of red to depict the poppies, which are scattered across green fields. In the foreground, Monet painted the figures of his wife, Camille and his son, Jean.

The figures are almost like sketches and have been painted using simple, quick strokes of white, black and violet. The woman and child can again be seen in the background. Monet has created two distinct color zones in the painting – one in which the dominant color is red and another where the main color is bluish-green. The contours of the landscape have been softened and colorful blobs of paint which signify poppies provide an overall rhythm. This work can be considered as the first step towards abstraction.

Poppies was put on display at the first Impressionist exhibition that was organized at a photographer, known as Nadar’s studio in 1874.

List of Poppy Paintings by Monet

• Poppies at Argenteuil, 1873
• Poppy Field, Argenteuil, 1875
• Poppy Field near Vetheuil, 1875
• Lane in the Poppy Fields, Ile Saint-Martin, 1880
• Poppies near Vetheuil, 1880
• Red and Pink Poppies, 1883
• Vase of Poppies, 1883
• White Poppy, 1883
• Poppy Field at Giverny, 1885
• Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, 1885
• Poppies at Giverny, 1887
• Oat and Poppy Field, 1890

The sunflowers that Monet used as the subject for his painting grew along the steps that led to the garden of his house in Vétheuil. The painting was shown in 1882 at the seventh Impressionist exhibition. Monet’s technique got him the admiration of his critics.
Vincent van Gogh who is also known for his series on sunflowers saw Monet’s Bouquet of Sunflowers at Paul Durand-Ruel’s gallery in Paris in 1886. Van Gogh said of Monet’s painting:

“Gauguin was telling me the other day that he had seen a picture by Claude Monet of sunflowers in a large Japanese vase, very fine, but – he likes mine better. I don’t agree.”

Bouquet of Sunflowers is part of Monet’s series on seven different kinds of flowers which includes chrysanthemums and dahlias. Among all of these, Sunflowers is the most well-known. This series of paintings is in fact one of the very few examples of still lifes in Monet’s works.