Wheatstacks

Claude Monet’s Wheatstacks (often called Haystacks) is not just a painting of farm materials; it is a famous series of works dedicated to the intense study of light and time.

Monet painted these stacks, which were common fixtures in the French countryside after the harvest, dozens of times between 1890 and 1891. He returned to the exact same spot at different hours of the day and across various seasons, from summer sunlight to winter snow.

The meaning of the series lies in its scientific yet poetic approach to perception. Monet’s goal was to show how the subject itself, the solid stack of wheat, disappears into color and light. The comparison between two paintings from the series demonstrates how the structure remains constant while the colors change dramatically, showing that light is the true subject of the painting.