Lot Essay
According to Daniel Wildenstein's catalogue raisonné, this work, although dated 1886 by Monet, was in fact painted in 1885 and sold to Durand-Ruel in May of that year. It depicts two willow trees on the banks of the Epte at Giverny with a screen of poplars in the background. Monet painted three contemporaneous views of the same spot, one signed and dated 1885, the other two signed but not dated (Wildenstein, nos. 980, 982 and 983; Private Collections). In each painting, he varied the viewpoint and the framing of the scene. At the same time, he also made two other pictures of the Epte at Giverny (Wildenstein, nos. 984 and 985; Private Collections); they are similar in style but represent different points on the river. In all these works, the artist explores the unique quality of early spring--the air appears sunny and bright, yet cool, and the branches of the trees are still relatively bare.
In the present work Monet has attempted to capture an effect which is rare in the history of landscape painting, and which is even exceptional in the artist's oeuvre. Much of the beauty of the picture lies in the way that the silvery and lavender branches are layered to create a series of gossamer, lacework planes through which one looks to see the sun-lit hills in the background. An image of this kind is beyond the technical capacities of traditional old-master painting, with its darker hues and richer, more full-bodied palette. Moreover, its composition is a striking departure from the traditional formats of landscape paintings. For example, in the classic landscape developed by Annibale, Claude and others, there are alternating planes of landscape elements as one moves into the depth of the picture; the viewer does not look through the trees to the background, as one must in Printemps, saules. Monet was perhaps the first painter to achieve this effect with any regularity.
Another noteworthy aspect of Printemps, saules is the color composition, with its emphasis on the contrast of green and purple. This unusual pairing is one Monet often favored. Another example among many is Champ d'iris jaunes à Giverny, 1887 (Wildenstein, no. 1137; Musée Marmottan, Paris). In the present work, the pink and peach streaks of sunlight on the hills in the distance provide key secondary color effects.
Paul Tucker has written about Monet's paintings from this period:
It may have been [his new] financial security as well as the amount of time he had spent away from Alice and his family that caused him to concentrate on the Giverny area for new subjects to paint upon his return from the south... He focused his attention on the region around his new home for the next two years. This concentration resulted in nearly eighty paintings that, like his views of the south, are remarkably diverse. There are pictures of the Seine and its tributary, the Epte, in virtually every season; there are charming scenes of winding country roads and houses nestled into the rolling hills of the area, of orchards and poppy fields, prairies and newly harvested mounds of hay. Although most of these are set in and around Giverny, many were painted in neighboring towns--Bennecourt, Port-Ville, Limetz, and Vernon--suggesting, again like the views of the south, a new-found freedom to expand his repertoire as well as his base of operations. (P.H. Tucker, Claude Monet, Life and Art, New Haven, 1995, p. 120)
In the present work Monet has attempted to capture an effect which is rare in the history of landscape painting, and which is even exceptional in the artist's oeuvre. Much of the beauty of the picture lies in the way that the silvery and lavender branches are layered to create a series of gossamer, lacework planes through which one looks to see the sun-lit hills in the background. An image of this kind is beyond the technical capacities of traditional old-master painting, with its darker hues and richer, more full-bodied palette. Moreover, its composition is a striking departure from the traditional formats of landscape paintings. For example, in the classic landscape developed by Annibale, Claude and others, there are alternating planes of landscape elements as one moves into the depth of the picture; the viewer does not look through the trees to the background, as one must in Printemps, saules. Monet was perhaps the first painter to achieve this effect with any regularity.
Another noteworthy aspect of Printemps, saules is the color composition, with its emphasis on the contrast of green and purple. This unusual pairing is one Monet often favored. Another example among many is Champ d'iris jaunes à Giverny, 1887 (Wildenstein, no. 1137; Musée Marmottan, Paris). In the present work, the pink and peach streaks of sunlight on the hills in the distance provide key secondary color effects.
Paul Tucker has written about Monet's paintings from this period:
It may have been [his new] financial security as well as the amount of time he had spent away from Alice and his family that caused him to concentrate on the Giverny area for new subjects to paint upon his return from the south... He focused his attention on the region around his new home for the next two years. This concentration resulted in nearly eighty paintings that, like his views of the south, are remarkably diverse. There are pictures of the Seine and its tributary, the Epte, in virtually every season; there are charming scenes of winding country roads and houses nestled into the rolling hills of the area, of orchards and poppy fields, prairies and newly harvested mounds of hay. Although most of these are set in and around Giverny, many were painted in neighboring towns--Bennecourt, Port-Ville, Limetz, and Vernon--suggesting, again like the views of the south, a new-found freedom to expand his repertoire as well as his base of operations. (P.H. Tucker, Claude Monet, Life and Art, New Haven, 1995, p. 120)