The Poplar Series

Serial imagery

Serial imagery is a central idea of modern and contemporary art. The Impressionists and their contemporaries were the first to use it, for example Claude Monet in his Poplars, Haystacks or Rouen Cathedral....

paintings were made by Claude Monet

Claude Monet

Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...

 in the summer and fall of 1891. The magnificent trees were in a marsh along the banks of the Epte River a few kilometers upstream from Monet's home and studio. To reach his floating painting studio that was moored in place he went by small boat up the nearby waterway to where it joined the mainstream. The trees were along the riverside in single file, following along an S-curve.

There were three groups of paintings — in one group the paintings have towering Poplars that go off the top edge of the canvas, in another group there are seven trees, and in another group three or four Poplars on the banks of the Epte River near Giverny

Giverny

Giverny is a commune in the Eure department in north-western France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home.-Location:Giverny sits on the "right bank" of the River Seine where the river Epte meets the Seine...

. The trees which actually belonged to the commune of Limetz were put up for auction before Monet had completed all of his paintings. At a certain point Monet was forced into buying the trees because he still wasn't finished with his paintings. After he finished the series he sold the trees back to the lumber merchant who wanted them.

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