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Lot Essay
As the cold winter at the beginning of 1885 gave way to spring, Monet set about exploring the countryside around his new home at Giverny. The village of Gasny to the east proved to be of particular interest and the present work, along with ten others listed by Daniel Wildenstein (op. cit., nos. 969-973, 975-979), record the coming of the new season in and around the farmhouses with the hills of the Val de Falaise as a backdrop. A related painting, Hameau de Falaise près Giverny (Wildenstein, no. 973; sale, Christie's, New York, 5 May 2004, lot 220) was done a little earlier, with the artist's easel turned slightly to the right.
The sequencing of motifs in the present work increasingly preoccupied Monet during the later 1880s. During the late summer of 1885 he painted several pictures of haystacks in Giverny (Wildenstein, nos. 993-995), precursors to the celebrated series of haystacks, followed by cypresses and cathedral exteriors, of the early 1890s. The artist's interest in temporality and fleeting atmospheric effects was gradually evolving into a more methodical and analytical involvement with process. While the artist was careful to capture the effects of the changing seasons, he also recorded aspects of the landscape that have remained the same over the years.
The sequencing of motifs in the present work increasingly preoccupied Monet during the later 1880s. During the late summer of 1885 he painted several pictures of haystacks in Giverny (Wildenstein, nos. 993-995), precursors to the celebrated series of haystacks, followed by cypresses and cathedral exteriors, of the early 1890s. The artist's interest in temporality and fleeting atmospheric effects was gradually evolving into a more methodical and analytical involvement with process. While the artist was careful to capture the effects of the changing seasons, he also recorded aspects of the landscape that have remained the same over the years.