The Magpie

A winter painted on the spot

In the winter of 1868 to 1869, Claude Monet was living near Étretat on the Normandy coast with Camille Doncieux and their young son. When snow fell, he worked outdoors in the cold, as several witnesses later recalled.

The Musée d’Orsay describes The Magpie as a snowy landscape near Étretat, painted on the spot. It is one of the largest of the many snow scenes Monet made, and it measures 89 by 130 centimetres.

The title points to the smallest thing in the picture: a black and white bird perched on a gate.

The only dark note in a white world

The magpie sits on the top bar of a rough wooden gate in a wattle fence. It is tiny, but it is the darkest point in the painting, and the eye finds it at once.

The Orsay notes that Monet chose this frail bird rather than the hunting scenes and forest views of snow painted by Gustave Courbet. The magpie does not tell a story. It gives the empty landscape a living centre and a sense of scale.

Shadows that are blue, not grey

The real subject of the painting is light on snow. The sun is low and comes from behind the fence, so long shadows stretch towards us across the ground. Monet painted them in blues and lilacs, not in greys or browns.

This was a radical choice. Close observation shows that shadows on snow under a clear sky do look blue, because they reflect the sky. Painting them that way, with no dark outlines, was one of the ideas that would define Impressionism a few years later.

Snow in many different whites

Along the fence, snow sits in heavy lumps on the hedge, with dark stems showing through. In the sunlit areas Monet used warm creamy whites; in shade, cooler bluish ones.

The painting uses very little true white. Instead it is built from pale yellows, pinks, blues and greys placed side by side. Up close the snow becomes a surface of coloured strokes; from a distance it reads as bright, cold and real.

Trees and a house in the soft distance

On the right, snow-covered trees rise above a farmhouse with a red chimney. Their branches are painted lightly, almost dissolved by the glare. The sky above is a hazy, pale grey.

Everything beyond the fence is softer and paler than the foreground. Monet used this change in sharpness and contrast to create depth, without relying on strong lines of perspective.

Rejected by the Salon of 1869

Monet submitted the painting to the official Paris Salon in 1869, and the jury rejected it. The Orsay links that refusal to the painting’s novelty: its bright palette, its coloured shadows and its lack of a conventional subject.

Today it is one of the best-loved paintings in the Orsay, which acquired it in 1984 and restored it in 2025.

Painting in the cold

A journalist who met Monet in the winter of 1868 described seeing him at work outdoors in the snow, wrapped in coats, with a hot-water bottle at his feet and his hands frozen. The story shows how committed Monet was to painting directly from nature, even in the harshest conditions.

Snow was a difficult subject. It is white, but under changing light it reflects every colour around it. Monet wanted to capture that effect accurately, and the only way was to stand in front of it.

White that is not white

Look closely at the snow and you will find very little pure white. There are pale blues and violets in the shadows, creamy yellows where the sun touches the ground, and pinks in the distance. Monet saw that shadows on snow are tinted by the blue sky above, and he painted them that way.

At the time, many painters showed shadows in grey or brown. Monet’s coloured shadows were a bold idea, and they became one of the hallmarks of Impressionism. The Magpie is one of the earliest and most beautiful examples.

A small subject on a big canvas

At 89 by 130 centimetres, the painting is large for a simple landscape. Most of the canvas is taken up by snow and sky, with a fence, a gate, a few trees and a house. The magpie is tiny. Monet gave a quiet rural corner the scale normally reserved for important subjects.

That choice says something about his ambitions. He believed that light and atmosphere were worthy of a major painting, even without a story or famous figures.

How to look at it

Begin with the magpie on the gate, the darkest point in the picture. Then follow the long blue shadow of the fence across the snow, and let your eye travel to the trees and the house at the right. Notice how the sunlight falls from the left, casting shadows towards you, and how the sky changes from pale yellow to grey.

The painting is quiet, but it is full of carefully observed colour. The more time you spend with it, the more subtle tones appear.

From rejection to fame

The Salon of 1869 rejected the painting. The jury probably found its bright, coloured snow and simple subject too unusual. Today it is one of the most popular paintings in the Musée d’Orsay, which acquired it in 1984. Its rejection and later success sum up the story of Impressionism itself.

Where to see it

The Magpie hangs in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Our hand-painted oil reproduction follows this composition. For more snowy fields and other great views of nature, explore our famous landscape paintings.

Questions about The Magpie

Where was The Magpie painted?

In the countryside near Étretat, Normandy, during the winter of 1868 to 1869.

Where is the original?

Musée d’Orsay, Paris (RF 1984 164).

Why are the shadows blue?

Monet painted what he saw: shadows on snow reflect the blue sky. He avoided black and grey.

Was it shown at the Salon?

No. The jury of the 1869 Salon rejected it.

When did the Musée d’Orsay acquire it?

In 1984.

Why are the shadows blue?

Monet observed that shadows on snow reflect the blue of the sky, and painted them that way rather than grey.

Sources and image credit

• Musée d’Orsay: La Pie, RF 1984 164
• Wikimedia Commons: Google Art Project scan

Faithful public-domain reproduction of The Magpie (1868 to 1869), via Wikimedia Commons (Google Art Project). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.