Claude Monet – Field of Tulips in Holland

Field of Tulips in Holland is a hand-painted oil reproduction of a Dutch motif by Monet: bands of flowering beds run across the lower half of the canvas, a windmill stands at the centre, and a wide clouded sky rises above it all.

Field of Tulips in Holland – Claude Monet

What is on the canvas

The canvas is landscape and divided almost exactly in half: field below, sky above. The lower
half is filled with parallel bands of flowering beds, laid in short vertical
touches: the largest, a deep red band, runs from the lower left corner towards the centre and is
edged by a narrow green strip, and behind it follow bands of yellow-green, pink and ochre. The
centre is held by a windmill with a dark body that narrows towards the top and a
dark cap; four thin sail frames stand in a cross, two of them up to the left and right. At the
foot of the mill is a low lean-to with a red roof. To the right stands a group of farm buildings
with brown-red roofs and dark walls, a few trees beside them. To the left a low line of trees and
barely indicated houses runs off into the distance. The upper half is filled with white and cream
cumulus, with blue showing through at the top left and right.

Two halves that agree

The scene rests on a simple relation: horizontal lines of colour below, moving cloud above.
One half is ordered, the other is not, and that contrast is what holds the picture together. The
red band is not painted as a flat shape but as hundreds of short vertical strokes, so that up
close the colour breaks into single flowers and from a distance gathers again. The mill is the
only vertical element and stands exactly where the two halves meet — without it the scene would
fall apart into two bands. This oil on canvas reproduction is therefore a good measure of how
Monet builds depth without drawing: by a sequence of colour bands alone, narrowing towards the
horizon.

The subject among Monet’s works — and what is not established about this original

The Dutch period has one more well-known canvas,
Zaandam, where water takes the place
of the beds. The same method, by which flowers become a band of colour, is in
Poppies near Argenteuil
and in Poppy Field (Giverny),
while the open field without flowers is
Meadow at Giverny.

What we deliberately do not state here: Monet painted this motif in more than
one version, so which of them is the original behind this particular reproduction is not
established. You will therefore find no year of execution, no collection name and no accession
number on this page. We say what is visible on the canvas and nothing beyond it.

How it works on the wall

The format is landscape, in a ratio of about 5 : 4, so less elongated than most landscapes and
easier to place. Because the lower half is strongly coloured and the upper half light, the work
takes a lower hanging above a sideboard. 40 x 30 cm and 50 x 40 cm suit a hallway or a kitchen,
where the red bed acts as a point of colour. 60 x 50 cm and 70 x 60 cm are the usual choices
above a dining table. 81 x 66 cm is exactly the size of the original and is
offered. 90 x 70 cm, 120 x 100 cm and 150 x 120 cm are meant for large walls, where the bands
stretch out and the mill is given air around it. Hand-painted canvas art of this kind brings warm
red and green into a room and sits well with wood and light walls.

Hand-painted, not printed

This fine art reproduction is made with a brush, not a printer. A print lays the colour in an
evenly thin film, so the red bed reads as a single flat shape. Applied by hand, every flower is
its own stroke standing above the canvas, while sky and distance stay thin and smooth. That is
exactly why the field changes with the light more than the sky does — a print cannot do that,
because there everything is the same thickness. Because it is handwork, every copy differs a
little.

Custom sizes, frame, and the view on your own wall

If none of the eight sizes suits your room, we paint to the size you set yourself, keeping the
ratio of the sides so the mill keeps its place in the composition. A 3D application is available
for the frame — it is for frame selection only and does not place the work in
your room. If you want to see how it will look on your own wall, that is the separate
visualisation service. The two do not overlap, so we do not mix them.

Ordering, lead time and approval before dispatch

The work is painted to order, so the lead time is 15 to 45 days, depending on
the size chosen and how busy the studio is. Before anything is sent we send you a photograph of
the finished piece for approval; only once you confirm do we stretch the canvas on a wooden frame
and prepare it for hanging. As wall decor it belongs where there is enough daylight. The whole
range, including further reproductions on canvas and famous paintings on canvas, is in the
Claude Monet gallery.

• Subject: bands of flowering beds, a windmill at the centre, farm buildings to the right, a large clouded sky.
• Technique: oil on canvas; the beds in hundreds of short vertical strokes, the sky in broad soft shapes.
• Sizes: landscape format 5 : 4, eight sizes from 40 x 30 cm to 150 x 120 cm; 81 x 66 cm is the size of the original.
• Worth knowing: the mill stands exactly on the border of field and sky — without it the work would fall into two bands.