Claude Monet (1840-1926) aspired to capture light and its effects on the colors of objects throughout his life. The intensity of light changes every hour from morning to afternoon, evening and night. Monet firmly believed in the production outdoors while he was sitting before the objects he was drawing. He took up a new canvas from time to time as he saw change of light during his production. This is how he created a series of as many as 30 pieces of "Haystacks" which he started to paint in 1888.
This is one of the three "Haystacks" Monet painted in 1885. The series of "Haystacks" he painted in 1888 and onwards have great emphasis on the light effect on the haystacks only and minimal attention was paid to the surrounding landscape. However, this "Haystacks" have bright skies and clouds that were blown by winds also painted as well as haystacks. It is assumed that two people in the foreground are Alice Hoschede, his second wife and his son Michel Monet. 1
※ Monet's paintings in the collection of Ohara Museum of Art number two: "Haystacks" and "Waterlilies".
Note
1 Reference: Catalog "Exhibition of the Impressionism": Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (1994) Catalog "Monet Exhibition": Chunichi Shinbun(1994)
Anecdote
This work originally belonged to the Matsukata Collection.1 At a top-notch art gallery in Paris, Matsukata bought 10-20 art works at a time, pointing pieces by his walking stick, saying "I will take that", " This one also", and "How much are they all together?" He was very dynamic and that was his style of collecting paintings. Once a rumor started to go around that Matsukata would buy Gauguin, each art gallery made sure they had Gauguin.
Matsukata was very active in Paris about the same time as Torajiro Kojima. But the way the collection ended up presents a sharp contrast. The recession after World War I caused Kawasaki Shipbuilding to bankrupt and Matsukata's massive collection scattered away.2 He had to give up a dream of the construction of "Kyoraku Museum of Art". "Haystacks" changed the hands of ownership many times after Matsukata and came to Ohara Museum of Art in 1978.
Note
1 Kojiro Matsukata (1865-1950) was the third son of Masayoshi Matsukata, an elder statesman from Satsuma (current Kagoshima Prefecture) who rendered a great service to the nation. He was the president of Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company. He studied at La Sorbonne in France and popped in and out of the fashionable society of Paris. His collection of western art amounted to 2,000 art works and bought back 8,000 pieces of Ukiyoe which had flowed out of Japan.
2 Of his collection which was scattered and lost, 428 art works that were kept in Rodin Musem in Paris remained. After World War II the French Government was so kind as to return 371 of them to Japan. The National Museum of Western Art which opened to the public in 1959 in Ueno, Tokyo was originally constructed to display the Matsukata Collection.
Haystacks
Commentary
Claude Monet (1840-1926) aspired to capture light and its effects on the colors of objects throughout his life. The intensity of light changes every hour from morning to afternoon, evening and night. Monet firmly believed in the production outdoors while he was sitting before the objects he was drawing. He took up a new canvas from time to time as he saw change of light during his production. This is how he created a series of as many as 30 pieces of "Haystacks" which he started to paint in 1888.
This is one of the three "Haystacks" Monet painted in 1885. The series of "Haystacks" he painted in 1888 and onwards have great emphasis on the light effect on the haystacks only and minimal attention was paid to the surrounding landscape. However, this "Haystacks" have bright skies and clouds that were blown by winds also painted as well as haystacks. It is assumed that two people in the foreground are Alice Hoschede, his second wife and his son Michel Monet. 1
※ Monet's paintings in the collection of Ohara Museum of Art number two: "Haystacks" and "Waterlilies".
Note
1 Reference: Catalog "Exhibition of the Impressionism": Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (1994) Catalog "Monet Exhibition": Chunichi Shinbun(1994)
Anecdote
This work originally belonged to the Matsukata Collection.1 At a top-notch art gallery in Paris, Matsukata bought 10-20 art works at a time, pointing pieces by his walking stick, saying "I will take that", " This one also", and "How much are they all together?" He was very dynamic and that was his style of collecting paintings. Once a rumor started to go around that Matsukata would buy Gauguin, each art gallery made sure they had Gauguin.
Matsukata was very active in Paris about the same time as Torajiro Kojima. But the way the collection ended up presents a sharp contrast. The recession after World War I caused Kawasaki Shipbuilding to bankrupt and Matsukata's massive collection scattered away.2 He had to give up a dream of the construction of "Kyoraku Museum of Art". "Haystacks" changed the hands of ownership many times after Matsukata and came to Ohara Museum of Art in 1978.
Note
1 Kojiro Matsukata (1865-1950) was the third son of Masayoshi Matsukata, an elder statesman from Satsuma (current Kagoshima Prefecture) who rendered a great service to the nation. He was the president of Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company. He studied at La Sorbonne in France and popped in and out of the fashionable society of Paris. His collection of western art amounted to 2,000 art works and bought back 8,000 pieces of Ukiyoe which had flowed out of Japan.
2 Of his collection which was scattered and lost, 428 art works that were kept in Rodin Musem in Paris remained. After World War II the French Government was so kind as to return 371 of them to Japan. The National Museum of Western Art which opened to the public in 1959 in Ueno, Tokyo was originally constructed to display the Matsukata Collection.
Painting
Apple Picking
Small Table in Evening Dusk
Song of Songs (Le Cantique des Cantiques)
Haystacks
Waterlilies
Cliff of Gréville
Coutyard at the ‘Rondest House’, Pontoise
Woman Wearing a Hat with Silk Gauze
Delightful Land (Te Nave Nave Fenua)
All Things Die, But All Will Be Resurrected through God’s Love
Wave
Carriage and Pair
Three Dancers in Red Costume
Autumn Sea
Old Horse in the Wasteland
Landscape
Festival of Venis
Hair
Winter Orchard
Beethoven
Landscape of La Ferté-Milon
Annunciation