Claude Monet – View of Vétheuil

View of Vétheuil is a hand-painted oil reproduction of a motif by Monet: the village with its tall spire sits in a hollow below the slope we look from, and a dry yellow field falls steeply away on the right.

View of Vétheuil – Claude Monet

What is on the canvas

The canvas is landscape, and we look from above, down the slope. At the lower right
a steep dry field in ochre yellow falls away on the diagonal; low dark green bushes
and fine red-orange flecks are scattered over it. A dense mass of dark green trees stands along the
right edge. Left of centre and lower down lies the village — white and grey houses with blue roofs,
pressed into the hollow. Above them rises a grey-blue church with a tall pointed
spire, the highest thing on the canvas. Behind the village and to the left a pale chalk
slope climbs to a ridge, striped in cream, white and green; a path runs along the ridge and a few
small dark trees stand on the skyline. In the distance to the right, low blue-grey hills line up.
The upper third is a pale grey-blue sky, painted in long slanting strokes that fall to the right.

Everything runs on the same diagonal, except the village

Sky, chalk slope and dry field are painted with the same long slanting stroke, so the whole thing
leans one way. Only the village at the centre is painted differently: in short upright patches,
block on block. That makes the village the one thing here standing still, and the eye that slides
down the slope stops exactly at the spire. This oil on canvas reproduction is therefore ordered by
the rhythm of the brushstroke rather than by perspective — depth comes only from the size of the
houses and from the hills fading into the distance.

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

The same village in winter is
Snow Effect at Vétheuil,
the river below it
Banks of the Seine at Vétheuil.
Water and morning light return later in
Morning on the Seine, Giverny,
and the open country with no settlement in
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 13 : 10, and takes a slightly higher hanging than
usual, because we are looking downwards and the view itself falls towards the village. 50 x 40 cm
and 60 x 50 cm suit a hallway or a narrow wall. 70 x 55 cm is still a small size, but the spire
already stands clear. 80 x 62 cm is both the original size and an offered size, and
is therefore the most faithful choice on the ladder. 90 x 70 cm and 100 x 80 cm are balanced above a
sideboard or a sofa. 120 x 90 cm and 150 x 120 cm are meant for large walls, where the individual
strokes in the field come apart from one another. Because the upper half is light and cool,
hand-painted canvas art of this kind will carry a wall in a warm tone as well; a dark wall takes its
sky away.

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 field and village come out equally smooth. Applied by hand the dry field is
painted in hundreds of long dragged strokes standing above the canvas, while the village is fine
flat dabs. Light is returned differently by those two surfaces, so the field moves as you walk past
while the village stays quiet — 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 slope is no steeper or gentler than in the original. 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 is often hung in a living room or a dining room, where it
is looked at from across the room. The whole range, including further reproductions on canvas and
famous paintings on canvas in museum-quality reproduction, is in the
Claude Monet gallery.

• Subject: a village with a tall spire in a hollow, seen from a chalk slope, a dry yellow field at the lower right.
• Technique: oil on canvas; the field in long dragged strokes, the village in fine flat dabs.
• Sizes: landscape format 13 : 10, eight sizes from 50 x 40 cm to 150 x 120 cm; 80 x 62 cm is the original size.
• Worth knowing: sky, slope and field all run on the same diagonal — only the village stands still.