Description
The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil is a summer scene Édouard Manet painted in 1874 at the home of his fellow painter Claude Monet: Camille Monet sits in the grass under a tree in a white dress, her son Jean leans against her, and Monet bends over a flower bed at the left. The original, oil on canvas, 61 x 99.7 cm, belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in 8 landscape sizes from 50 x 30 to 180 x 115 cm, or made to measure. Before the garden leaves us, you get a photograph of it.
| Title: | The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil |
| Other titles: | La famille Monet au jardin (French title) |
| Painter: | Édouard Manet (1832–1883) |
| Year painted: | 1874 |
| Original size: | 61 cm x 99.7 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Realism and Impressionism |
| Located at: | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil – Édouard Manet
What does The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil show?
Right of centre, Camille Monet sits on the lawn, her long white dress spread around her in a half circle. Under a white summer hat trimmed with flowers and black bows, she rests her chin on her hand and looks straight at us with wide dark eyes. An open red fan shows behind her.
Her son Jean lies beside her, head and shoulder propped against his mother, in a light-blue sailor-style suit, a straw hat and red shoes. At the left Claude Monet, in a blue shirt, dark trousers and a black hat, stoops to reach for a red bloom, a large zinc watering can at his side.
A red-brown rooster, a white hen and a tiny chick wander through the grass in front. A branching tree rises behind Camille, and dense greenery dotted with red flowers fills the back. No sky shows; the light falls mainly on mother and son, and the signature “manet” sits at the lower right.
How did this summer scene come about?
In the summer of 1874 Manet was holidaying on his family’s property at Gennevilliers, across the Seine, and often called on the Monets in Argenteuil. At the end of July he began this canvas in their garden. That same day Pierre-Auguste Renoir dropped by and painted Camille and Jean side by side with Manet.
It was Manet who had found Monet the Argenteuil house, the family’s home since the winter of 1871.
The chickens repeat the human family: rooster, hen and chick stand left to right in the same order as father, mother and son, and are read as a faithful pair caring for its young. Red accents tie the figures together, from the rooster’s comb to Jean’s shoes, Camille’s fan and the blooms Monet tends. Manet shows his host not at the easel but as gardener and father, in a moment of middle-class leisure.
Why is this painting so well known?
It dates from 1874, the year of the first Impressionist group exhibition in Paris. Manet stayed away, still preferring the Salon, yet that summer in Argenteuil he took up Monet’s lighter palette and quick, loose brushwork.
Édouard Manet (1832–1883), among the first painters of the nineteenth century to paint modern life, led the way from Realism towards Impressionism, and this garden shows how far he went. His bond with Monet lasted until his death; in 1889 and 1890 Monet led the successful campaign that brought Manet’s Olympia to the French state.
For the meeting of three painters in one garden, see the Wikipedia article on the painting, written in German.
Where is the original, and how did it get there?
The original, oil on canvas, 61 x 99.7 cm (height x width), belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, accession number 1976.201.14.
Manet gave the finished painting to Monet. In 1876 the two swapped works and it returned to Manet, who sold it in 1878 to a Paris dealer.
The collector Auguste Pellerin bought it around 1900, the Berlin businessman Eduard Arnhold in 1910 and the New York collector Joan Whitney Payson in 1964; she left it to the museum on her death in 1975.
The Monet Family or another Manet?
This canvas painting suits anyone who loves summer, deep greens and a quiet family moment outdoors.
For Manet the portraitist, see Portrait of Henri Rochefort, a journalist and politician in a black suit with folded arms, or George Moore at the Café, an unfinished sketch of the Irish writer at a café table. The Grand Canal, Venice (Blue Venice) brings bright water and a black gondola among blue-and-white poles, while The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, one of Manet’s largest canvases, shows a grave moment of history.
Our Édouard Manet page gathers more famous Manet paintings, other Argenteuil scenes among them.
How do we hand-paint The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil?
Manet’s original is oil on canvas, 99.7 cm wide, a medium-sized work. Ours is an oil painting reproduction hand-painted in oil on canvas: the painter lays colour onto new canvas layer after layer, in the size you choose.
In places Manet brushed on thinned paint, then partly wiped or scraped it off, leaving a translucent green underlayer for thicker dabs and long, wet strokes. Our painter keeps that order: the green ground of lawn and leaves first, then the white dress and blue clothes, the red accents last.
Manet painted Monet more sketchily than his wife and son, and the background so loosely it still looks wet. We keep that contrast, so Camille and Jean stay crisp and the garden light.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 50 x 30 or 60 x 35 cm for a narrow wall or a shelf, 66 x 41 and 90 x 55 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, 100 x 63 and 130 x 77 cm above a sofa, and 145 x 90 or 180 x 115 cm for a large wall.
There are 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 50 x 30, 60 x 35, 66 x 41, 90 x 55, 100 x 63, 130 x 77, 145 x 90 and 180 x 115 cm. The original measures 99.7 x 61 cm (width x height), so the four sizes up to 90 x 55 cm are smaller, 100 x 63 cm almost matches it, and 130 x 77, 145 x 90 and 180 x 115 cm are larger than the original.
As a painting for the living room it looks best at 130 x 77 or 145 x 90 cm above the sofa, where Camille’s face, the fan and the birds in the grass read clearly.
Can I order another size or a frame?
Yes. For other proportions we keep all three people and the poultry whole and adjust only the edge of lawn or greenery. Send us the size you need for the Monet garden, and we reply with a price and a date.
It leaves rolled, on a stretcher bar or framed by our workshop in Slovenia, which packs every painting with care. The moulding for this garden scene is picked in our 3D app, which serves for frame choice alone; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will my painting arrive?
The painter starts on Camille, Jean and the garden once you confirm, and the painting is ready to leave within 15 to 45 working days. Before packing, we send you a photograph of the finished garden and make any changes you ask for.
The Monet family travels within Slovenia and across the EU without customs duties, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
A young family resting in a garden is a fine gift for parents, a new house with a garden or anyone fond of Impressionism. Not sure which wall? Give a wall art voucher, and the size is theirs to choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, accession number 1976.201.14.
Who are the people in the painting?
The painter Claude Monet, his wife Camille and their son Jean, in their garden at Argenteuil.
Is it a print?
No. It is a hand-painted copy: our painter works Camille, Jean and the hens with a brush, in oil on canvas.
What size is the original?
61 x 99.7 cm (height x width); our 130 x 77, 145 x 90 and 180 x 115 cm sizes are larger.
Can I have the Monet family in a size not on the list?
Yes. Tell us the width and height of your wall, and we will send an offer with a price and a delivery time.
How long does it take?
Between 15 and 45 working days; before the garden ships, you see it finished in a photograph.
Is it right for a bedroom, or as a gift?
Yes. The calm green scene sits well in a bedroom, and as a present it pleases any family with a garden.
What do the chickens in the foreground mean?
Rooster, hen and chick stand in the same order as father, mother and son, so they mirror the family.
- Subject: Camille and Jean Monet in the grass, Claude Monet at his flower bed, poultry in front.
- Original: oil on canvas, 1874, 61 x 99.7 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
- Ours: an Édouard Manet reproduction hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 50 x 30 to 180 x 115 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Manet painted it in Monet’s own garden; the same day Renoir painted Camille and Jean.
