In the manner of Claude Monet
French, 1840–1926
Solar Field, Noon, 2026
Oil on canvas
66 × 99 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.8.2
The same field, six hours later. The mist has gone, the sun is a white blaze overhead, and the panels flash it back so hard the paint turns to glare. The shadows beneath them are violet, as Monet's shadows always were. He would have set up here at dawn and come back at noon with a second canvas. The panels, unlike the haystacks, have been working the whole time.
The brief
The same field of solar panels at hard noon, glare and violet shadows, heat haze. French Impressionist oil painting, broken dabs of pure colour, no black, forms suggested by shimmering light rather than line, lavender shadows, pinks and greens vibrating together, reflections on water, plein-air freshness, thick short brushstrokes, canvas weave visible at the edges. Museum photograph of the oil painting, soft even gallery lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
