Haystacks at Chailly is a landscape that portrays the Impressionist fascination with outdoors, light, and color. Monet uses three swaths of broad color to structure the painting. The blue and white clouds compose fully half of the canvas; the greens and brown of the field rise nearly a third of the way up from the bottom of the painting; and the orange and pink hues of the sunrise separate the low-lying clouds from the field. Wedged between the field and the sunrise swaths is a thin line of dark colors that represent the town, including houses, a church and other buildings. The orange, brown, and yellow haystacks of various sizes are painted with these colors in such a way as to make them appear like natural growths from the field, instead of manmade stacks placed there. The bright colors used for the clouds and the sunrise are in stark contrast to the dark and somber colors used to paint the town and buildings. Such a contrast might signify the artistÆs belief that nature is natural and welcoming, whereas civilization and urbanization are a blight on the landscape. The swaths of color used for the clouds and sunrise are diagonally positioned, opening up as they move to the right of the painting, in contrast to the town which moves from lower to higher in height from right to left. This draws the eye away from the town and toward its outskirts, into pure natural images. Once again, this use of color, line, and positioning symbolizes the artist is free and more comfortable in nature than in civilization.
Monet, C. (1865). Haystacks at Chailly. Viewed on May 17, 2004: http://www.sdmart.org/image/image.pl?mode=&blowup=30075, 1.
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