Claude Monet - The Magpie

The Magpie (La Pie), 1868-1869 - Claude Monet, oil on canvas. Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926) was a French Impressionist painter. Monet painted this winter landscape outdoors near Étretat during the winter of 1868-1869. He reduced the subject to snow, light, shadow and a small magpie perched on a gate, turning a modest rural motif into an experiment in perception. Pale colours and coloured shadows were strikingly unusual at a time when academic winter landscapes were generally much darker. The jury of the 1869 Salon rejected the painting. Seen in retrospect, its concern with fleeting light and direct observation anticipates Impressionism several years before the group held its first independant exhibition.