Claude Monet – Poplars

Poplars is a hand-painted oil reproduction of a row-of-trees motif by Monet: four slender trunks rise the whole height of the square canvas, and a broad dark blue-violet band of crowns runs across the middle.

Poplars – Claude Monet

What is on the canvas

The canvas is square. Four very slender trunks rise the whole height, spaced
almost evenly; they are painted as narrow dark violet-brown lines with bluish tufts of foliage
clinging to them. The sky behind is a pale blue-green and is not smooth — it is set down in
short, visible strokes. At the left in the background stands a mass of golden-yellow autumn
foliage of lower trees. Across the lower half runs a broad diagonal band of dark blue and
violet strokes: it is the same row of trees, falling back to the right in the distance
and breaking up close to into a mass of colour. Below that band is the water, pale blue-green,
with yellow and orange reflections; the trunks continue down into it as vertical lines. At the
bottom centre stands a small green bush.

Two scales in one picture

The scene shows the same row twice and at two scales at once: the four trunks in front are
individual, measurable, almost architectural, while the same run of trees behind is only a band
of colour with no separate forms. That is exactly why the work reads deeper than a square would
lead you to expect — distance is carried by the difference between drawing and mass, not by
perspective. The sky is not a backdrop but an equal surface: it is painted at the same density of
stroke as the foliage, so the trunks do not detach from it but stand in it. This oil on canvas
reproduction is therefore also an exercise in the balance of warm and cool — golden yellow at the
left, blue-violet across the middle, pale green above.

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

The same motif upright and from another distance is
A Row of Poplars. Trees at the
water as a group are in The Willows,
the single tree in Weeping Willow.
When the water takes the leading part and the trees remain only as reflection, the result is
Morning on the Seine, near 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 square, which is uncommon in a subject of trees and makes placing it easier: a
square does not ask for a wide wall but for a centre. Eight square sizes are offered. 60 x 60 cm
and 70 x 70 cm suit a hallway, a staircase or a narrow wall between two doors. 82 x 82 cm
is the closest to the original and is therefore the most faithful choice. 90 x 90 cm and
100 x 100 cm are the usual choices above a sideboard or beside a dining table. 120 x 120 cm,
150 x 150 cm and 180 x 180 cm are meant for large walls, where the verticals are given their true
height. Because the blue and the gold are strong, hand-painted canvas art of this kind takes a
coloured wall too, but does best on white or sand.

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 sky, trunks and reflections come out equally smooth. Applied by hand, the
blue band of crowns is put on thickly and with movement, while the sky is set in thinner, quieter
strokes. Light is returned differently by those two surfaces, so the band of crowns changes more
than the sky 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 eight sizes suits your room, we paint to the size you set yourself, keeping the
ratio of the sides so the trunks stay slender. 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 hangs best at eye level, because that is when a
square is quietest. The whole range, including further reproductions on canvas and famous
paintings on canvas, is in the
Claude Monet gallery.

• Subject: four slender trunks the whole height, a diagonal blue-violet band of crowns across the middle, water with reflections below.
• Technique: oil on canvas; the band of crowns thick and moving, the sky in thinner quiet strokes.
• Sizes: square format, eight sizes from 60 x 60 cm to 180 x 180 cm; 82 x 82 cm is the closest to the original.
• Worth knowing: the same row of trees appears twice — in front as four drawn lines, behind as a band of colour with no forms.