Haystacks, midday

In the broad strokes that form the substructure of this painting can be detected Monet's first attempt to capture the general impression and lay out the major elements of the scene. In this process some grass was even mixed up in the paint and remains in the bottom right-hand edge of the painting. However, the layers of paint subsequently built up on the surface and certain significant changes in the composition suggest a protracted period of successive reworkings, presumably carried out both before the motif and in the studio. Monet made a number of quite significant changes to the composition.