Description
| Paint style: | Impressionism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
The Luncheon is a hand-painted oil reproduction of a garden scene by Monet: a laid table with fruit and a silver pot stands in the shade, a child in a straw hat sits on the ground beside it, and two figures walk along a sunlit path in the background.
The Luncheon – Claude Monet
What is on the canvas
The canvas is landscape. Left of centre, in shade, stands a round table under a white
cloth that falls almost to the ground; on it a footed dish of peaches, a glass of red
wine, a silver pot on a dark tray, blue-and-white cups and a bread roll. At the lower left, on the
ground in shade, sits a child in a straw hat with a green and red band, playing
beside a small chair. To the right of the table is a wicker side table with a plate of fruit and a
glass; a hat and a shawl hang behind it. At the far right a garden bench stands in dappled shade
with a parasol and a bag lying on it. Behind the table a sunlit sand path crosses
the canvas, edged with beds of red pelargoniums and orange nasturtiums and a dark green planter.
At the upper right a woman in a long white dress stands on the path, a second, half-hidden figure
beside her. At the upper centre a straw hat with a black ribbon hangs from a
branch against the dark facade of a house with a window and a door. The foliage closes over the
top edge. The canvas is signed at the lower right.
A scene the people have left
The table is laid and started: the bread is broken, the glass is half empty, the cups are
pushed aside. Nobody is sitting at it. That absence is the subject — the scene is caught at the
moment the meal is over and the company has dispersed, while the child has stayed on the ground.
Everything human is set back into the distance or hidden in shade. It makes the canvas quiet and a
little strange at the same time. The light is divided very sharply: the foreground lies in cool
shade, the middle in full sun, the background again in green. This oil on canvas reproduction is
therefore a good exercise in seeing how Monet ties three differently lit bands together with a
single bright surface — the path.
The subject among Monet’s works — and what is not established about this original
The garden as a whole scene, without the table, is
Corner of the Garden at Montgeron.
Figures in a garden as the main subject are brought by
Women in the Garden and
Woman with a Parasol.
The child as the only figure stands in
Jean Monet on His Hobby Horse.
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.
We do not state a size for the original here — for the same reason we state no
year: there is no record to take one from with any confidence. The sizes listed are the ones we
actually paint. There are nine. 50 x 40 cm, 60 x 45 cm and 70 x 55 cm suit a hallway, a kitchen or
a narrow wall. 80 x 65 cm and 100 x 80 cm are the usual choices above a sideboard or a dining
table, where a garden scene is at home in its subject. 120 x 90 cm and 130 x 105 cm are balanced
above a sofa. 150 x 120 cm and 200 x 160 cm are meant for large walls, where the single objects on
the table can be read. Because the work is divided between shade and sun, hand-painted canvas art
of this kind lives best where the room itself has some daylight.
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 cloth and the foliage come out equally smooth. Applied by hand, the white
cloth is painted in broad, soft shapes while the flowers and foliage are hundreds of short, thick
touches standing above the canvas. Light is returned differently by those two surfaces, so the
beds catch it before the table does as you walk past — 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 nine sizes suits your room, we paint to the size you set yourself, keeping the
ratio of the sides so the table and the path stay in the same relation. 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 in a dining room or a kitchen, where the
subject meets the room. The whole range, including further reproductions on canvas and famous
paintings on canvas, is in the
Claude Monet gallery.
- Subject: a laid table in shade, a child in a straw hat on the ground, a sunlit path and two figures behind.
- Technique: oil on canvas; the cloth in broad soft shapes, the flowers in hundreds of short thick touches.
- Sizes: landscape format 5 : 4, nine sizes from 50 x 40 cm to 200 x 160 cm; no size is stated for the original.
- Worth knowing: nobody is sitting at the table — the meal is over, and that absence is the subject.
