Haystacks (Meules), 1885 by Claude Monet

Haystacks, painted by Claude Monet in 1885 presents grainstacks rising from a sunlit meadow bordered by a dense line of trees, with two small figures resting at the base of the largest stack. Painted several years before his famous 1890-91 series on the same theme, the work reflects an earlier stage of Monet's fascination with the haystack as a vehicle for studying light and rural life together. The inclusion of human figures lends the scene a gentle, pastoral warmth rare in his later, more purely atmospheric studies of the subject.

Artist: Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Date: 1885.

Haystacks (Meules), 1885 by Claude Monet. Impressionist Rural Landscape Canvas Print.