Boats & Regattas Collection: Claude Monet Oil Painting Reproductions

Fifteen paintings of boats: yachts at their moorings, regattas under sail, working barques drawn up on the shingle and small craft crossing the Seine. Boats were part of Monet's daily life for years, and they gave him something he needed in a picture, a clean vertical mast against a flat horizontal of water.

Argenteuil, and the studio boat

From 1871 to 1878 Monet lived at Argenteuil, on a stretch of the Seine downstream of Paris that had become the centre of French pleasure sailing. Regattas were held there, the basin was crowded with rigging on summer weekends, and the whole thing was made for a painter interested in reflection and quick light. He also had a small boat fitted with a cabin so that he could work from the water itself, following the example of the older landscape painter Charles-Francois Daubigny; it let him sit low, in the middle of the river, with the banks rising on both sides.

The coastal pictures come from a different world: fishing barques at Sainte-Adresse and Honfleur where he grew up, and later the boats hauled up under the cliffs on the Normandy coast. Together the two strands cover the whole range, from leisure to labour, and from bright regatta colour to grey working weather.

Hand-painted oil reproductions, made to order

Every work in this collection is available as a hand-painted oil reproduction, brushed in real oils on artist-grade cotton canvas by a senior studio painter and never printed, or as a lower-priced archival canvas print. Choose the size and orientation, then finish it rolled, stretched, or framed in a thin or thick moulding. Everything is made to order and hand inspected before dispatch, with free worldwide shipping and a 30-day return guarantee.

Which room this collection suits

Boat pictures are wide and low, which makes them one of the easiest groups to place: above a sofa, a bed, a console or a fireplace. The colour is mostly blue, white and green with sharp accents of red and ochre in the hulls and flags, so they work on white, pale blue-grey, soft green and natural timber. They suit rooms meant for relaxing rather than working. Avoid steamy bathrooms and anywhere with sustained damp; a stretched canvas is happiest in normal room conditions.

Frequently asked questions

Did Monet really paint from a boat?

He did. During the Argenteuil years he had a boat fitted out as a floating studio so he could work from the middle of the river, which is why the viewpoint in several of these pictures is so low to the water.

Which should I choose, hand-painted oil or archival print?

Water and sails are made of quick, broken strokes, and a hand-painted oil reproduction in real oils keeps that liveliness in the surface. The archival canvas print is a good lower-priced alternative, particularly for a second room or a smaller size.

What size suits a wall above a sofa?

Roughly two thirds of the sofa's width, hung so the centre of the picture sits about fifteen to twenty centimetres above the back cushions. Our size guide sets out the common combinations.

Do these work as a pair?

They do. A regatta scene and a quieter moored-boat picture in matching sizes and frames make a well balanced pair, since one carries the movement and the other the calm.