Art Institute of Chicago

Stacks of Wheat

Claude Monet

Date

1891

Medium

Black chalk on cream laid paper

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Of all the motifs that preoccupied Monet in his exploration of changing light effects, grain stacks are among the most iconic. He captured them at various times of the year and at different moments of the day. When these works were shown in an 1891 exhibition, they were widely praised by his peers. One critic, Octave Mirbeau, wrote that the works conveyed “the drama of the earth.” Since Monet rarely made drawings, this sheet may have been a potential illustration for Mirbeau’s article. The softness of the chalk avoids harsh contours and, in turn, better mimics the artist’s painting technique.

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