Poplars in the Sun|Claude Monet |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 24 April 2025

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On Display

Permanent collection

Claude Monet

Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926

Poplars in the Sun

Date	1891
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	93 x 73.5
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower right: Claude Monet 91
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Wildenstein 1305; M777
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0152

Monet left several series of works that depict the same motif with changes in light, pigment or composition. He was fascinated by the stand of poplars along the left bank of the Epte River near Giverny, and he set down their form several times during the spring and summer of 1891. The special characteristics of this work are the three large poplars shown in the foreground of the image, and the bright lively impression given by the blue of the sky, the white of the clouds and the green and rose color of the trees. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.74)

Provenance

M. Knoedler & Co., Paris, stock no. 6705/115090; purchased from Knoedler by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, as ‘Poplars’, 12 December 1921 (Fr. 4,500 [Fr. 45,000?]); sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1892: Monet, Durand-Ruel, Paris, 0 1892 - 0 1892, cat. no. 11
1924: Inaugural exposition of French art, The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, 0 1924 - 0 1925, cat. no. 37
1924: Exposition Claude Monet, organisée au bénéfice des Victimes de la Catastrophe du Japon, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 4 January 1924 - 18 January 1924, cat. no. 23
1952: Monet, Kunsthaus, Zürich, 0 1952 - 0 1952, Paris, 1952, cat. no. 79
1952: Monet, Dienst voor Schone Kunsten, Den Haag, 0 1952 - 0 1952, cat. no. 65
1978: European Landscape Painting, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, 3 November 1978 - 15 January 1979, cat. no. 72
1982: Monet, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 9 October 1982 - 28 November 1982, cat. no. 40
1983: Claude Monet at the time of Giverny, Centre Culturel du Marais, 6 April 1983 - 31 July 1983, cat. no. 28, repr. color.
1986: Claude Monet: Painter of Light, The Auckland City Art Gallery, 27 April 1986 - 9 June 1986, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 June - 4 August; The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 13 August - 29 September, cat. no. 22. col. repr.
1986: Claude Monet, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, 29 April 1986 - 30 June 1986, cat. no. 71, repr. color.
1986: Renoir et les impressionnistes, Hokkaido Hakodate Museum of Art, 23 September 1986 - 3 November 1986, cat. no. 71, col. repr.
1990: Monet in the 90’s: The Series Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 7 February 1990 - 29 April 1990, cat. no. 38, repr. color., The Art Institute of Chicago, 19 May 1990 - 12 August 1990, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 7 September 1990 - 9 December 1990
1992: Claude Monet: 1840-1926, La Salle Saint-Georges-Féronstrée (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Liège) , 13 March 1992 - 10 May 1992, cat. no. 24, repr. color.
1994: Monet: A Retrospective, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation, 11 February 1994 - 7 April 1994, Nagoya City Art Museum, 16 April-12 June 1994, cat. no. 54, col. repr.(as"Les trois arbres, été")
2001: Monet & Japan, the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 9 March 2001 - 11 June 2001, cat. no. 25, col. repr.
2006: Claude Monet: Effet de soleil - Felder im Frühling, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 20 May 2006 - 24 September 2006, cat. no. 36, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, Pola Museum of Art, 13 July 2013 - 24 November 2013, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013-9 March 2014, cat. no. 59, col. repr.
2015: Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market, The National Gallery, London, 4 March 2015 - 31 May 2015, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 24 June-13 September, cat. no. 57 (fig. 13), col. repr.
2017: Hokusai and Japonisme, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 October 2017 - 28 January 2018, cat. no. 159, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 100, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature - from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 4 June 2022 - 11 September 2022, cat. no. 79

Bibliography

1939: Venturi, L. Archives de l'impressionnisme. tome 1, Paris, 1939, pp. 341-344.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 16, col. repr.
1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-210.
1968: Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 2, 1968, pp. 13-14, no. 20, repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 50, repr.
1973: Tanaka, Hidemichi. L'inspiration artistique de Nymphéas de Monet. Bulletin Annuel du Musée National d’Art Occidental. No.6 (1971), 1973, pp. 33-43.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 34, repr.
1978: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 42, repr.
1979: Wildenstein, D. Claude Monet, biographie et catalogue raisonné. tome 3, Lausanne/ Paris, 1979, pp. 150-151, repr., 264 (letters to P. Durand-Ruel, nos. 1133, 1135, 1138); tome 5, 1991, pp. 48, 215 (lettre no. 3061).
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 192, repr.
1983: Gordon, Robert; Forge, Andrew. Monet. New York, 1983, p. 169, repr.
1985: Claude Monet: Painter of Light (exh. cat.). House, John. Auckland, Auckland City Art Gallery; NZI Corp., 1985, pp. 84-85, cat. no. 22, col. repr.
1986: Claude Monet, 1840-1926 (exh. cat.). Esteban Leal, Paloma; Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo. [Madrid], Ministerio de Cultura; Fundación para el apoyo a la cultura, [1986], pp. 334-335, 488, cat. no. 71, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 1068.
1990: Tucker, Paul, Hayes. Monet in the '90s: The Series Paintings. Boston/ New Haven/ London, 1990, pp. 115, 118, repr., 121, 122.
1994: Monet: A Retrospective. Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation; Nagoya City Art Museum, eds. Nagoya, The Chunichi Simbun, 1994, pp. 170, 173, cat. no. 54. col. repr.
1996: Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet: Catalogue raisonné. vol. 3, Cologne, Taschen, 1996, p. 522, cat. no. 1305, repr.
2001: Monet & Japan (exh. cat.). Bromfield, David et al. Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, 2001, pp. 44, 102, 195, cat. no. 25, repr.
2006: Claude Monet: fields in spring(exh.cat.). Von Holst, Christian; Conrad, Christofer. et al., eds. Ostfildern, Hatje Cantz, 2006, cat. no. 36, col. repr.
2006: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 74, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 74, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 88, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 59, col. repr.
2015: Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and The Modern Art Market(exh. cat.). London, National Gallery Company, 2015, cat. no. 57 [Fig. 13], col. repr.
2017: Hokusai and Japonisme (exh. cat.). Hakamata, Hiroyo; Ikeda, Yuko, eds. Tokyo, Yomiuri Shimbun; The National Museum of western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 202, 391, cat. no. 159, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 777, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 186, 189, 366, cat. no. 100, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature: from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi; Shinfuji, Atsushi; Yomiuri Shimbun, Museum Exhibition Department, eds. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2022, pp. 158, 261, cat. no. 79, col. repr.

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