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Claude Monet
French, 1840-1926
Grainstack, Sun in the Mist, 1891
Oil on canvas
Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund, The John R. Van Derlip Fund, The William Hood Dunwoody Fund, The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison, and Mary Joann and James R. Jundt
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Beginning in the late 1880s, the Impressionist painter Claude Monet decided to paint the same subjects over and over, in different seasons and under varying light and weather conditions. He made series paintings of hillsides, cathedrals, cliffs, bridges, water lilies, poplar trees, and grainstacks.
In the grainstack series, there are thirty paintings. Monet painted them all outdoors, whatever the weather. He painted in the bitter winter cold, the spring rain, the blazing summer sun, and the crisp fall air. Sometimes he brought several canvases to the field with him, so he could capture the same scene as the light changed throughout the day.
This picture was painted at sunrise on a dewy autumn morning. Misty air fills the entire scene, and the brightness forms a halo around the grainstack. Up close, you can see vibrant dashes of color, but from a distance the whole image seems to shimmer. It’s the beginning of a beautiful day.
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