Stacks of Wheat (Sunset, Snow Effect)

Claude Monet · 1890–91

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

65.3 × 100.4 cm (25 11/16 × 39 1/2 in.); Framed: 84.2 × 119.7 × 8.9 cm (33 1/8 × 47 1/8 × 3 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Impressionism

Stacks of Wheat (Sunset, Snow Effect) is one of the most quietly arresting works in Monet's celebrated Haystacks series — a study in how fading winter light transforms the mundane into something luminous. Monet painted this canvas during the winter of 1890–91, working outdoors in the fields near his home in Giverny, often with multiple canvases on the go so he could rotate them as the light shifted. His technique here is deeply layered: short, directional strokes of ochre, violet, and rose build the snow-covered forms, while the sky bleeds from warm amber into cold blue — an effect that captures a specific moment in time rather than a generalised impression of it. It was among the first bodies of work where Monet deliberately painted the same subject across different seasons and times of day, making light itself the true subject. The Haystacks series caused a sensation when it was exhibited in Paris in 1891, selling out within days — a rare commercial and critical triumph for an Impressionist at the time. Our hand-painted oil reproduction faithfully recreates the tonal depth and textured brushwork of the original held at the Art Institute of Chicago, bringing the warmth and stillness of that winter field into your home.