Robert Vonnoh (1858-1933)
- ROBERT VONNOH (1858-1933)
Haystacks
Oil on panel
12 3/4 x 16 inches
Signed at lower left
Robert Vonnoh’s most direct influence was the renowned Impressionist, Claude Monet (1840 -1926). Vonnoh was inspired by Monet’s landscapes and his explorations of light and color through numerous series of paintings of a single subject in different seasons and times of day. Indeed, Vonnoh’s Haystacks has a direct correlation to Monet’s paintings of the same subject. Yet, while Monet prominently features one to two large haystacks as the dominant focus of his composition, Vonnoh places more emphasis on the vast fields and open skies of the rural landscape where large groups of haystacks line the countryside. Though Vonnoh embraced the Impressionist style, as seen in this painting of haystacks, his forms never went as far as his French counterparts in fully dissolving forms into pure light and color. Much like Monet, Vonnoh also produced numerous paintings of flowers, especially poppies, and frequently integrated figures into his landscapes. For example, Vonnoh’s 1890 painting, In Flanders Field bears a strong resemblance to Monet’s Poppies of 1873. It is also likely that Vonnoh was aware of Monet’s paintings of flowers and waterlilies produced in his garden at Giverny.
