Custom Monet Style House Painting from Your Photo

A house holds more than a floor plan: the tree planted the year you moved in, the colour of the door, the window you look out of. Send a photograph and it is painted by hand in oil, exact in its details or softened by the light around it.

Monet and the house he lived in

Monet rented a house at Giverny in 1883, bought it with its land in 1890, and lived there until his death in 1926. The garden has a rectangular flower garden with climbing plants trained over arches, and a water garden with a Japanese bridge and a lily pond. The shop holds The artist’s house seen from the rose garden and Gardener’s House at Antibes.

His most useful lesson for a house is a view that treats garden and sky as part of the picture. Garden at Sainte-Adresse, from the summer of 1867, uses a raised viewpoint and flat horizontal bands of terrace, sea and sky. A house photographed from the garden side, or across a lawn, can borrow that idea.

Think of the result as a house portrait in borrowed light. It is not an original Monet and not a copy of anything on a museum wall.

Roofline, door and the gatepost everyone remembers

People recognise a house by its proportions before its details: the pitch of the roof, the number and spacing of the windows, the position of the door. These come first in the painting. After them come the marks that belong to you: a bench by the door, a climbing rose, one crooked gatepost. List them in your request, since nobody else would know which ones count.

Photographing the house

Choose a bright, even day and stand across the road or at the far end of the garden, so that the whole building fits with a little sky and ground. Early morning or late afternoon light gives the walls shape. Keep cars, bins and ladders out of the picture where you can, and take a second view from the other side if it tells more of the story.

A house that has changed

If the place has been sold, rebuilt or altered, send an old photograph and say what should show: the porch as it was, the tree that has since gone. People who lived there can appear near the door as small figures if you send their photographs.

Time of day and season

A house can look quite different at midday and at dusk, in July and in January. Pick the photograph that matches the hour you want to remember, because the painting follows its light. If you have one picture in winter and another in summer, say which season to paint.

Two ways to paint a home

The faithful direction keeps straight edges and clear colours, a good fit for a gift to someone moving out. The Monet-inspired direction keeps the structure correct and treats the surroundings as light: foliage in short touches of several greens, shadows with colour in them, and as much attention to the sky as to the walls.

Questions about house paintings

Can an old photograph be used?

Yes. Say what has faded and which colours you remember, so that the walls and roof take the right tone.

Can a tree be added or taken away?

Mention it in your request, with the reason. A tree long since cut down, or one that blocks the front door, are the usual cases.

Can modern clutter be left out?

Name the cars, wires, bins or scaffolding you want left out, so that nothing you wanted to keep disappears.

Does the house have to be shown in sunshine?

No. Rain, snow and a grey morning are valid choices. In the Monet-inspired direction, weather is part of the picture, so say which one you want.

House commission details

A house usually sits best on a landscape-format canvas, and the proportions of your photograph decide the size. The canvas goes out rolled in a tube, stretched over bars and ready to hang, or framed.

• Price: a painting of one house on the smallest canvas, sent rolled, starts at $218 (30 × 40 cm, rolled canvas).
• Time at the easel: 2 to 4 weeks.
• A photograph of the finished work arrives before dispatch, with room for corrections to colour or detail.
• Delivery once shipped: 5 to 7 business days.
• You can cancel your order at any time until it ships.
• Return period: 30 days.

For a view with no building at its centre, see the landscape page.

Start a house painting request