The Willows
1880
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 66.68 × 81.92 cm (26 1/4 × 32 1/4 in.) framed: 90.49 × 106.05 × 9.53 cm (35 5/8 × 41 3/4 × 3 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Edward C. and Mary Walker Collection)
Accession Number
2015.19.65
Art Historical Context
Claude Monet's *The Willows* (1880), an oil on canvas measuring 66.68 × 81.92 cm, captures the of the French countryside with the artist's signature Impressionist touch. Painted during a pivotal moment in Monet's career, this work reflects his fascination with natural light and atmosphere, likely depicting gracefully drooping willow trees along a riverbank—a motif that recurs in his landscapes of the late 1870s and early 1880s. As a founding figure of Impressionism, Monet revolutionized painting by working en plein air, using loose, dappled brushstrokes to convey the transient play of sunligh...
About the Artist
Claude Monet · 1840–1926
Claude Monet, born Oscar-Claude Monet on November 14, 1840, in Paris and raised in Le Havre, Normandy, began his artistic journey as a successful teenage caricaturist. His formal training started at the Le Havre secondary school of the arts in 1851, where he received his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochard. Around 1858, he met Eugène Boudin, who became his pivotal mentor, introducin...