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Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
1885
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
65.1 x 81.3 cm (25 5/8 x 32 in.)
Credit Line
Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession Number25.106
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Monet and his fellow Impressionists believed that art should express its own time and place and that it should do so in an appropriately modern style. In the 1860s and 1870s, working primarily outdoors, the Impressionists observed that objects seen in strong light lose definition and appear to blend into one another. No clear outlines exist in this sunny landscape. Its forms and textures are suggested by the size, shape, and direction of the brushstrokes, and the juxtaposition of complementary reds and greens gives the painting a vibrant intensity. By the mid-1880s, most members of the original group had turned away from Impressionism, but Monet declared: “I am still an Impressionist and will always remain one.”
Catalogue Raisonné
W. 1000
InscriptionsLower left: Claude Monet 85
ProvenanceSeptember 1885, sold by the artist to Durand-Ruel, Paris [see note 1]; probably sold by Durand-Ruel to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Spencer, Paris and New York [see note 2]; March 24, 1911, sold by Mrs. Spencer to Durand-Ruel, Paris (stock no. 9548); 1911, sold by Durand-Ruel, Paris to Durand-Ruel, New York (stock no. 3459); 1911, sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to Arthur Brester Emmons (b. 1850 - d. 1922), Newport, RI and New York [see note 3]; January 14-15, 1920, Emmons sale, American Art Association, New York, lot 31, to Durand-Ruel for Robert Jacob Edwards (d. 1924), Boston; 1925, bequest of Robert J. Edwards to the MFA [see note 4]. (Accession Date: April 2, 1925)
NOTES:
[1] Daniel Wildenstein, "Monet: Catalogue Raisonné" (1996), vol. 3, p. 377, cat. no. 1000.
[2] Albert Spencer is mentioned among the collectors with whom Durand-Ruel dealt by Anne Distel, "Impressionism: The First Collectors," trans. Barbara Perroud-Benson (New York: Abrams, 1990), 242. According to Wildenstein (as above, n. 1) the Spencers owned the painting by 1886.
[3] A handwritten note in the curatorial file (November 14, 1939) states that, according to Herbert Elfers of Durand-Ruel, this painting was purchased from Durand-Ruel, Paris, on September 16, 1911 and sold to Emmons on September 29, 1911. However, according to a later letter from Durand-Ruel to the MFA (1962), the sale to Emmons was on August 23, 1911.
[4] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
NOTES:
[1] Daniel Wildenstein, "Monet: Catalogue Raisonné" (1996), vol. 3, p. 377, cat. no. 1000.
[2] Albert Spencer is mentioned among the collectors with whom Durand-Ruel dealt by Anne Distel, "Impressionism: The First Collectors," trans. Barbara Perroud-Benson (New York: Abrams, 1990), 242. According to Wildenstein (as above, n. 1) the Spencers owned the painting by 1886.
[3] A handwritten note in the curatorial file (November 14, 1939) states that, according to Herbert Elfers of Durand-Ruel, this painting was purchased from Durand-Ruel, Paris, on September 16, 1911 and sold to Emmons on September 29, 1911. However, according to a later letter from Durand-Ruel to the MFA (1962), the sale to Emmons was on August 23, 1911.
[4] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
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