Monet’s interest in nature is further seen in his large study for Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1865) in the Pushkin Museum, another step in Monet’ s long process of planning for his machine, as large canvases were then called. This study is the best representation of Monet’s intended full picture, as after he failed to complete his final canvas, Monet returned to this
painting and retouched it, then signed and dated it 1866 (Isaacson, 30). In it, Monet stretches the group of twelve to the outer edges of the painting, rather than centering them, and it would seem as if the tree in the center is the true subject, with the picnickers acting as a sort of decorative carpet underneath. The shape of the picnic party has a sort of valley in which the tree stands, drawing the viewer’s eyes to the center of the painting and to the tree. In addition, the man to the left of the tree holds an umbrella which points to its trunk, again directing our vision to the tree. Its illuminated branches and the tree on the right, highlighted by its light bark, stand out from the dark clothing and shadows of the forest. Indeed, the landscape background is as detailed as the fashionable clothing worn by Monet’s figures, recalling advice Monet was later to give to fellow painter Lilla Cabot Perry, “Remember that every leaf on the tree is as important as the features of your model” (qtd. Perry, 183). Clearly Monet believed these words even while painting this study, as the texture and different shades of the bark are highly detailed, even more so than some of the dresses. Here, Monet has successfully painted a life-size landscape that has the volumetric quality Manet’s canvas failed to possess.
Image: Monet, Claude. Déjeuner sur l’herbe (study), 1865. Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia.
Scanned from: Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet: Catalogue Raisonné. Vol. 2. Köln, Germany: Taschen, 1994. 4 vols.