Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer)
Date:
1890/91
Artist:
Claude Monet
French, 1840-1926
About this artwork
The monumental stacks that Claude Monet depicted in his series Stacks of Wheat rose fifteen to twenty feet and stood just outside the artist’s farmhouse at Giverny. Through 1890 and 1891, he worked on this series both in the field, painting simultaneously at several easels, and in the studio, refining pictorial harmonies. In May 1891, Monet hung fifteen of these canvases next to each other in one small room in the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. An unprecedented critical and financial success, the exhibition marked a breakthrough in Monet’s career, as well as in the history of French art. In this view, and in nearly all of the autumn views in the series, the conical tops of the stacks break the horizon and push into the sky. But in most of the winter views, which constitute the core of the series, the stacks seem wrapped by bands of hill and field, as if bedded down for the season. For Monet, the stack was a resonant symbol of sustenance and survival. He followed this group with further series depicting poplars, the facade of Rouen Cathedral, and, later, his own garden at Giverny. The Art Institute has the largest group of Monet’s Stacks of Wheat in the world.
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Status
- On View, Gallery 243
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Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
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Artist
- Claude Monet
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Title
- Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer)
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Place
- France (Artist's nationality:)
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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
- 1891
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Medium
- Oil on canvas
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed lower left: Claude Monet 91
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Dimensions
- 60 × 100.5 cm (23 5/8 × 39 9/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Arthur M. Wood, Sr. in memory of Pauline Palmer Wood
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Reference Number
- 1985.1103
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Learn more.
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/64818/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
- Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition d’oeuvres récentes de Claude Monet, exh. cat. (Galeries Durand-Ruel, 1891), p. 13, cat. 1.
- “Claude Monet Exhibit Opens,” Boston Post, Mar. 15, 1905.
- Copley Society, Boston, Loan Collection of Paintings by Claude Monet and Eleven Sculptures by August Rodin, exh. cat. (Copley Society, 1905), p. 13, cat. 9.
- Possibly Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Potter Palmer, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1910), cat. 34.
- Grace Seiberling, “The Evolution of an Impressionist,” in Paintings by Monet, ed. Susan Wise, exh. cat (Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), p. 32, 33.
- Susan Wise, ed., Paintings by Monet, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), p. 145, cat. 88 (ill.).
- Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 3, Peintures, 1887–1898 (Bibliothèque des Arts, 1979), pp. 38; 42, n. 1032; 47, n. 1086; 138; 139, cat. 1269 (ill.); 262, letter 1114.
- Richard R. Brettell, “Monet’s Haystacks Reconsidered,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 11, 1 (Fall 1984), pp. 7; 10, fig. 1; 11; 16, pl. 6; 19; 21, n. 6, n. 7, n. 17.
- Andrea P. A. Belloli, ed., A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), p. 364.
- Richard R. Brettell, “The Fields of France,” in A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, ed. Andrea P. A. Belloli, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), pp. 246; 260–62; 267, no. 108 (ill.).
- Richard R. Brettell, “La campagne française,” in Réunion des Musées Nationaux, L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1985), pp. 261; 282–91, no. 108 (ill.).
- Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report, 1985-86 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1986), pp. 6, pl. 8; 28; 71.
- Art Institute of Chicago, “Acquisitions,” Mosaic (Mar.–Apr. 1986), p. 8 (ill.).
- Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report, 1986–1987 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1987), p. 56.
- Yvon Taillandier, Monet, rev. ed. (Crown, 1987), p. 67 (ill.).
- Paul Hayes Tucker, Monet in the ’90s : The Series Paintings, exh. cat. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Yale University Press, 1989), pp. 3; 77; 78, pl. 20; 79; 80; 82; 296, cat. 17.
- Karin Sagner-Düchting, Claude Monet, 1840–1926: Ein Fest für die Augen (Benedikt Taschen, 1990), pp. 159, 161 (ill.).
- Sylvie Patin, Monet: “Un oeil … mais, bon Dieu, quel oeil!” (Gallimard/Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1991), pp. 104 (ill.), 105 (detail), 172. Translated by Anthony Roberts as Monet: The Ultimate Impressionist(Abrams, 1993), pp. 104 (ill.), 105 (detail), 171.
- Anne Rorimer, “The Date Paintings of On Kawara,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 17, 2 (1991), p. 122, fig. 2.
- John Sallis, “Monet’s Grainstacks: Shades of Time,” Tema Celeste International Art Magazine 30 (Mar.–Apr. 1991), pp. 62; 67, n. 2.
- Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Catalogue raisonné, vol. 5, Supplément aux peintures: Dessins; Pastels; Index (Wildenstein Institute, 1991), p. 47.
- Serge Bonnet, D’une fenaison à l’autre (Gérard Klopp, 1992), cover (ill.).
- George Keyes, “Claude Monet’s Grainstack, Sun in the Mist,” Arts 16, 12 (Dec. 1993), contents page (detail), p. 8 (ill.).
- Andrew Forge, Monet, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago, 1995), pp. 44; 48; 49; 86, pl. 15; 108.
- Jon Margolis, “When Paintings Talk … ,” Chicago Tribune Magazine, Sept. 17, 1995, p. 21 (ill.).
- Charles F. Stuckey, with the assistance of Sophia Shaw, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Thames & Hudson, 1995), pp. 118, cat. 97 (ill.); 220; 237.
- John Russell Taylor, Claude Monet: Impressions of France, from Le Havre to Giverny (Collins & Brown, 1995), pp. 106–07 (ill.).
- Marietta S. Millet, Light Revealing Architecture (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996), p. 27, fig. 1-41a.
- Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, or The Triumph of Impressionism, cat. rais., vol. 1 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), pp. 266, cat. 1269 (ill.); 275.
- Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 3, Nos. 969–1595 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), pp. 483; 485, cat. 1269 (ill.).
- Anne-Marie Bergeret-Gourbin, Monet: La Normandie (Herscher, 1997), pp. 54–55 (ill.).
- Masaki Fujihata and Yasuhito Nagahara, Kara azu a konseputo [Color as a concept] (Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, 1997), pp. 34–35 (ill.), 160.
- John Sallis, Shades—of Painting at the Limit (Indiana University Press, 1998), n.pag., pl. 2; 26, n. 13; 46.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 1999), p. 68 (ill.).
- Simonella Condemi and Andrew Forge, Claude Monet: La poesia della luce; Sette capolavori dell’Art Institute di Chicago a Palazzo Pitti, exh. cat. (Giunti Gruppo, 1999), pp. 34–35 (ill.), 36–37 (detail).
- Art Institute of Chicago, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 2000), p. 132 (ill.).
- Christoph Heinrich, “Une série d’effets différents: Monets ‘Getreideschober’ als Hülle für das Licht, die Zeit, das Universum—und ‘die märchenhafte Kraft und Pracht der Malerei,’” in Monets Vermächtnis: Serie—Ordnung und Obsession, ed. Christoph Heinrich, exh. cat. (Hamburger Kunsthalle/Hatje Cantz, 2001), p. 17.
- Christoph Heinrich, ed., Monets Vermächtnis: Serie—Ordnung und Obsession, exh. cat. (Hamburger Kunsthalle/Hatje Cantz, 2001), pp. 59 (detail), 62 (ill.), 183.
- Phillips, New York, Impressionist and Modern Art, sale cat. (Phillips, May 7, 2001), p. 86, fig. 1.
- Norio Shimada and Keiko Sakagami, Kurōdo Mone meigashū: Hikari to kaze no kiseki [Claude Monet, 1881–1926], vol. 2 (Nihon Bijutsu Kyōiku Sentā, 2001), pp. 67, no. 195 (ill.); 189.
- Richard R. Brettell, From Monet to Van Gogh: A History of Impressionism, vol. 2 (Teaching Co., 2002), pp. 161, 166, 183.
- Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide, selected by James N. Wood, rev. ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), p. 165 (ill.).
- Rhoda Feldman, “Art-Science Integration: Portrait of a Residency” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003), pp. 274; 275, fig. 7.
- Eleanor Dwight, ed., The Letters of Pauline Palmer: A Great Lady of Chicago’s First Family (M. T. Train/Scala, 2005), pp. 290 (ill.), 293, 326.
- Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 21 (ill.); 22; 103; 108; 156; 157, cat. 75 (ill.). Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 21 (ill.); 22; 103; 108; 156; 157, cat. 75 (ill.).
- Iris Schaefer, Caroline von Saint-George, and Katja Lewerentz, Impressionismus: Wie das Licht auf die Leinwand kam, exh. cat. (Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Fondation Corboud/Skira, 2008), pp. 23, abb. 8; 26. Translated as Painting Light: The Hidden Techniques of the Impressionists, exh. cat. (Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Fondation Corboud/Skira, 2008), pp. 23, ill. 8; 26.
- Iris Schaefer, Caroline von Saint-George, and Katja Lewerentz, Impressionismo: Dipingere la luce; Le tecniche nascoste de Monet, Renoir e Van Gogh, ed. Monica Maroni, exh. cat. (Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi/Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Foundation Corboud/Skira, 2008), pp. 23, ill. 8; 26.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James Cuno (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2009), p. 67 (ill.).
- Art Institute of Chicago, The Essential Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), p. 227 (ill.).
- Claudia Beltramo Ceppi, Monet: Il tempo delle ninfee, exh. cat. (Palazzo Reale/Giunti, 2009), pp. 65; 69, fig 22.
- Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Complete Paintings, vol. 5, Figures and Landscapes, 1883–1899, with a preface by Warren Adelson and research assistance from Richard H. Finnegan (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art/Yale University Press, 2010), p. 61, fig. 25.
- Caroline Spelman, “My Favourite Painting,” Country Life 205, 36 (Sept. 7, 2011), p. 82 (ill.).
- “Cat. 27: Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890/91,” in Monet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), https://publications.artic.edu/monet/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/135470.
- Gloria Groom, et. al. Monet and Chicago, exh. Cat. (Chicago: Art Institute, 2020), 33, 95 cat. 52, 137-38.
- Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition d’oeuvres récentes de Claude Monet, May 1891, cat. 1, as Meules. (Fin de l’été.). Appartient à M. Durand-Ruel.
- Boston, Copley Society, Loan Collection of Paintings by Claude Monet and Eleven Sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Mar. 1905, cat. 9, as Meules. Fin de l’Eté. 1891. Lent by Mrs. Potter Palmer.
- Possibly Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Potter Palmer, May 10–Aug., 1910, cat. 34, as Haystacks.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Monet, Mar. 15–May 11, 1975, cat. 88 (ill.).
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, June 28–Sept. 16, 1984, cat. 108 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 23, 1984–Jan. 6, 1985; Paris, Galeries Nationales d’Exposition, Grand Palais, as L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, Feb. 4–Apr. 22, 1985.
- Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames, 1300–1900, Oct. 17–Dec. 14, 1986, not in cat.
- Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Monet in the ’90s: The Series Paintings, February 7–April 29, 1990, cat. 17 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, May 19–August 12, 1990; London, Royal Academy of Arts, September 7–December 9, 1990 [Boston and Chicago only].
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream, a World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893–1993, Nov. 1, 1993–Jan. 9, 1994, not in cat.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, July 22–Nov. 26, 1995, cat. 97 (ill.).
- Florence, Sala Bianca di Palazzo Pitti, Claude Monet: La poesia della luce; Sette capolavori dell’Art Institute di Chicago a Palazzo Pitti, June 2–Aug. 29, 1999, no cat. no. (ill.).
- Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Monets Vermächtnis: Serie—Ordnung und Obsession, Sept. 28, 2001–Jan. 6, 2002, no cat. no. (ill.).
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 75 (ill.).
- Art Institute of Chicago, Monet and Chicago, September 5, 2020-June 14, 2021, cat. 52.
The artist (d. 1926); sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 9, 1891, for 3,000 francs [this and the following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1891–1901 (no. 938, as Meules, fin de l’été), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file]; sold to Charles Fairchild, Boston, June 26, 1891, for 5,000 francs; returned to Durand-Ruel, Paris, Aug. 4, 1891, in exchange for Monet’s Sur la falaise à Pourville, 1882 [per Durand-Ruel, Paris, Brouillard for 1888–91 (as Meules, fin de l’été): “Sold on 26 June 1891 to Ch. Fairchilds [sic], 191 Commonwealth Av. Boston, for 5 000 F. Exchanged for another Monet (Wildenstein 755) on 4 August 1891,” as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file. Fairchild exchanged the painting now in the Art Institute’s collection for Sur la falaise à Pourville (1882) now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, see Wildenstein 1996]; sold to Potter Palmer (d. 1902), Chicago, Aug. 4, 1891, for 6,000 francs [per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1888–1901 and Brouillard 1888–91 (no. 938, as Meules, fin de l’été), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 5, 2013, curatorial object file]; by descent to the Palmer Family; by descent to Arthur M. Wood and Pauline Palmer Wood (d. 1984), Lake Forest, Illinois; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, beginning in 1985 [The painting was given to the Art Institute of Chicago in undivided fractional interests beginning in 1985. The Art Institute received the final fractional interest for one hundred percent ownership in 2007].
Wildenstein, Claude Monet, biographie et catalogue raisonné, 1979 1269
- Cat. 27 Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890/91
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
