Interpretive Resource

Claude Monet rented property in Giverny, a village fifty miles northwest of Paris, in 1883. Traveling almost continuously during the 1880s, he did not truly settle there until 1890, when he was approaching fifty years of age. Dissatisfied with his achievements, beginning to suffer from physical complaints such as rheumatism, and irritated by the pressure to prepare for exhibitions, Monet found himself suddenly revitalized by his immediate surroundings.

He must have observed many times the common sight of wild poppies growing in the grain fields of northern France. Now he became so fascinated with it that he produced not only this canvas but three other, identically sized versions, each from the same vantage point but under slightly different conditions of light and atmosphere. Clearly, this group of works predicts the paintings of stacks of wheat that Monet would begin a few months later; in both series, each canvas is unique, created in response to specific natural circumstances rather than in conformity to its companion pieces.

Using short, hatching brush strokes, Monet built up a densely layered composition that can be read both as an abstract arrangement of bands or stripes, and as an illusionistic expanse toward a hilly horizon. As the eye moves up (or back) through the field, the marks that represent poppies change from bright red to red-orange to gold; interspersed among the flowers are touches of the blue that outlines the trees, forms the hills, and ultimately constitutes the sky. The sense of color, light, and space in the picture is breathtaking. Facing a transition in his life, Monet sought to prove that this humble field in Giverny was as loaded with pictorial potential as the brutal Creuse Valley or the exotic Mediterranean coast. He continued to prove this for more than thirty years.