Description
The Seine at Port-Villez is a hand-painted reproduction of Monet’s canvas in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris: a low island with bushy trees in blue-green and yellow strokes runs across the middle, a strip of pink shore lies in front of it, a tall mass of trees rises on the left, violet hills lie behind the island, and above everything a pale blue sky carries pink clouds. The original measures 92.5 x 65.5 cm, is oil on canvas and carries accession number RF 2009. The museum dates it »vers 1890«, about 1890. We paint it in eight sizes or to your own, with a photograph of the finished work sent for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | The Seine at Port-Villez |
| Other titles: | La Seine a Port-Villez ; L’ilot (Seine a Port-Villez) (the museum’s machine-readable record, accents omitted); La Seine à Port-Villez (the French title in Wikidata); in the Wildenstein catalogue the work is number 1263 |
| Painter: | Claude Monet (1840–1926) |
| Year painted: | about 1890: the museum writes »vers 1890«, that is with a reservation |
| Original size: | 92.5 cm x 65.5 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Impressionism |
| Located at: | Musée d’Orsay, Paris (inv. RF 2009) |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes or made to measure |
The Seine at Port-Villez – Claude Monet
What is on the canvas?
A bright day on the river. A long, low island runs across the middle of the canvas, covered in bushy trees painted in dense, twisting strokes of blue-green and yellowish green. In front of the trees runs a strip of pink shore with green clumps of plants, and below it the water in short horizontal strokes of blue and pink. On the left edge a tall mass of trees rises, and on the right, beyond the island, another stretch of water opens.
Behind the island run violet and blue hills. The sky takes roughly the upper half: pale blue, covered in pink and cream clouds laid on in thick strokes.
When was it painted, and why does it say »vers«?
The museum record gives »vers 1890«, about 1890; it claims no exact year.
Better no figure than one nobody asserts.
What does the museum record say about the work?
The work is held by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris under accession number RF 2009. It publishes the measurements height first, 65.5 and 92.5 cm, 83.6 and 110.3 cm with the frame, and the technique as oil on canvas. Wikidata gives the French title with its accent, La Seine à Port-Villez, and number 1263 in the Wildenstein catalogue.
The museum record has no field for inscriptions, so the reading of the signature is ours: at the lower left, in reddish brown, stands »Claude Monet«, with no year.
Set beside the museum’s own smaller photograph, it shows the island, the band of cloud and the signature in the same places.
How did the canvas reach the museum?
The museum gives a single fact: »Legs comte Isaac de Camondo, 1911«, the bequest of Count Isaac de Camondo of 1911. That is a mode of acquisition and not a chain of owners, so we write no chapter here about where the canvas had been.
The same bequest brought the museum two canvases we sell: London, the Houses of Parliament in the Fog, accession RF 2007, and Rouen Cathedral, the Portal and Saint-Romain Tower, accession RF 2001.
Which Seine at Port-Villez is this?
The title is not unique. The Tate in London lists under N06182 a canvas with the same English title, The Seine at Port-Villez, oil on canvas, which it dates to 1894. The museum record for our canvas says »vers 1890« and the accession number is RF 2009; if you are looking for this work in particular, go by that number, not by the title.
Why does this work matter?
Because it shows the painter returning to the same subject, the river. In our collection the Seine runs from 1880 to 1897, each canvas dated as its own page gives it: Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil from 1880, Barque sur la Seine à Jeufosse from 1884, this canvas from about 1890 and The Seine at Giverny from 1897.
Here the river is calm and bright; most of the work is done by the trees on the island, whose strokes are visibly twisted, and by the clouds, painted almost as thickly as the foliage. An impressionist painting of this kind tells no story; it holds the light of one day on the water.
How is our hand-painted version made?
Every order is painted individually by an artist, in oil on cotton or linen. That is how every canvas painting leaves us, with no print and no machine step. This oil painting reproduction is demanding in the trees: the strokes must stay thick and twisting, or the island turns into a flat green patch.
The second test is the pink shore, which must stay warm beside the cool blue water, or the middle of the canvas goes dull. A Monet reproduction of this kind depends on sky and water staying built of separate strokes. Work of this kind will not take a high gloss, so ours is matt. A hand-painted copy is not a facsimile; two canvases of the same size always differ in the brushwork.
Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished canvas. Check three things on it: that the trees on the island still show separate, twisting strokes, that the pink shore stays warm against the water, and that the signature stands at the lower left, as on the original. If one of them is not right, tell us before you approve it.
Which size for which wall?
There are eight sizes, from 50 x 35 to 150 x 110 cm. By size the closest to the original is 90 x 65 cm, only 2.5 cm narrower and 0.5 cm lower, and at 1.3846 slightly less elongated than the original’s 1.4122. By proportion the closest are 70 x 50 and 105 x 75 cm, both at 1.4000.
If you want nearly the size of the original, take 90 x 65; if you want its shape on a larger wall, 105 x 75. The long format and the calm river suit a narrow space, which makes this a good painting for the hallway. All sizes are listed with the product in our Claude Monet gallery.
Light matters as much as size. The canvas is built of pale tones, sky, pink shore and light water, so it reads best in daylight or in warm light from the side; under cold light the pinks lose their warmth. Hang it with the island, which runs across the middle, at about eye level.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
For a size not on the list, made to measure is the only route; send us the width and height and we keep the proportion of the original. The canvas is stretched on a wooden bar. A frame is not included; the museum’s own measures 110.3 x 83.6 cm.
Delivery and guarantee
Making it takes two to three weeks, a few days more at the largest sizes. It arrives stretched on its bar in a rigid box, or rolled in a tube, with tracking. If it arrives damaged or differs noticeably from the approved photograph, we replace it or refund. Small differences in the brushwork are expected in handwork; damage is not.
If the painting is a gift and you are unsure of the size, there is a voucher: the recipient chooses the size and the subject.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In Paris, at the Musée d’Orsay, accession number RF 2009.
What year is it from?
The museum writes »vers 1890«, about 1890.
What does it show?
A low wooded island in the Seine at Port-Villez, a pink shore, violet hills and a cloudy sky.
What is this work about, in one sentence?
About a bright day on the river, in which the trees on the island and the clouds above them carry the same weight.
- Subject. A low island with bushy trees in the Seine at Port-Villez, a pink shore in front, hills and clouds behind.
- Original. Oil on canvas, 92.5 x 65.5 cm, about 1890; signed at the lower left »Claude Monet«, with no year; Musée d’Orsay, Paris, inv. RF 2009.
- Ours. Eight sizes; 90 x 65 cm is closest by size, 70 x 50 and 105 x 75 cm by proportion.
- Worth knowing. The Tate in London lists a canvas with the same English title and dates it to 1894.
