Poplars on the Epte

French painter Claude Monet painted this row of poplar trees along the Epte River in 1891, the same year he completed his Grainstacks series. The tall, slender trunks rise like columns, their foliage forming a rhythmic pattern of green, gold, and sky reflected in the still water below.

Monet worked from a floating studio boat anchored on the Epte. When the local commune auctioned the poplars for timber, he paid a dealer to buy them on the condition they'd stay standing until he finished painting. He produced about 24 poplar canvases in total, studying the trees across different seasons and times of day.

This version hangs at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. The Poplars series, exhibited at Durand-Ruel's gallery in 1892, confirmed Monet's serial approach as the defining method of late Impressionism.