The Magpie

The artwork

In the middle of a dazzling field of snow there is a single black spot: a magpie perched on a gate, like a note on a stave. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The wooden gate, the hedge heavy with snow and the blue shadows of the winter sun.
• Bright whites and blue shadows: a picture that lightens any wall.
• A gift for anyone who loves winter and snow.

Monet painted it at Étretat, on the coast of Normandy, in the winter of 1868 to 1869. In those years he wanted to catch on canvas the passing moments, effects of light that last an instant, and he put himself to the test with the snowy landscape: a difficult challenge that Gustave Courbet, the great realist painter, had just met with success. His friends Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley followed him.

But Courbet painted snow in the woods, with hunters and animals. Monet chose a very simple scene: a gate, a hedge, a house in the background and a magpie. Light and shadow do the rest, and on the snow the shadows are not grey but blue.

When Monet submitted it to the Paris Salon in 1869, the picture was rejected. Today it is one of his most famous landscapes. The original is in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

In a hallway or a living room it brings the light of a winter day. It is a gift for anyone who loves snow, or who cannot wait for Christmas.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass