The Pave de Chailly Claude Oscar Monet (1840-1926)

Description of Claude Monet’s painting The Road to Chailly

Monet’s landscape The Road to Chailly (better known as The Road to Bas-Bros, Fontainebleau) is notable for its realistic manner of painting. All the strokes on the canvas are laid down clearly and distinctly, although they have varying densities of application. From the left corner of the canvas a road runs deep into the woods.

The autumn woods around it on both sides are still full of vitality and sunny confidence. Autumn has already touched not only the treetops with its brush, you can already see yellowed and fallen leaves on the ground, even the bushes on the right side have been painted, but the sun still brightly lights up the pale stripe of the forest road running away into the distance and the sad trees in the forest. This marvelous combination of a slightly bleak forest autumn calm, even peaceful, which, as if dissected by the gray ribbon of the road, evokes a slightly sad notes and memories of the departing summer.

When creating this landscape Monet uses mainly pale shades of green and brown, slightly diluted with yellowing, the vibrant rich greens can be seen only on the grass in the right corner of the picture. But with the help of the bright sunlight falling on the picture, as if from somewhere above, the landscape has turned out surprisingly bright and even lively. At the same time the sky has a pale gray color, which usually creates a rather gloomy mood on the canvas. But not in this case.

And the shades of gray, overhanging the cold sky above, and the same color of trees in the distance, as if an unsettling reminder that winter is just around the corner. But this, one might say, semantic contrast of colors on the painter’s canvas still casts an optimistic note that not everything is lost, and one should use such bright autumn days. Because of this, visually the painting is not perceived as a gloomy autumn landscape, but rather as a reminder of summer.

This is one of Monet’s landscapes, which were used in the creation of his famous composition "Breakfast on the Grass.