The Bodmer Oak—named after the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809-1893), who exhibited his painting of the tree at the 1850 Salon—was one of several imposing trees in the Fontainebleau Forest that had acquired a special appellation.

The carpet of russet leaves signals that Monet painted this canvas just before he left Chailly-en-Bière, near Fontainebleau, in October 1865. It is probably the last of several landscapes executed in connection with his monumental "Déjeuner sur l'herbe" (fragments of which are now at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

The slash in the upper right-hand corner of the painting may have been made by Monet, who reputedly mutilated some canvases in order to discourage a landlord from seizing them in 1866.

Inscription: Signed (lower right): Claude Monet.

the artist; seized from his studio at Ville-d'Avray in 1866 or 1867; nephew of the dealer Martin; the artist (until 1873; sold to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York, 1873–1900]; Chauncey J. Blair, Chicago (1900); [Durand-Ruel, New York, from 1900]; [Sam Salz, New York, by 1962–64]

New York. Durand-Ruel. "Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet," January 26–February 14, 1907, no. 23 (as "Le Pavé à Chailly," 1867).

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Claude Monet: Memorial Exhibition," January 1927, no. 43 (as "Le Pavé à Chailly," [1867], lent by the Durand-Ruel galleries).

Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Exposition Claude Monet: 1840-1926," May 22–September 30, 1959, no. 4 (as "Le Pavé de Chailly").

San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Barbizon Revisited," September 27–November 4, 1962, no. 109 (as "Le Pavé de Chailly," lent by Mr. Sam Salz).

Toledo Museum of Art. "Barbizon Revisited," November 20–December 27, 1962, no. 109 (as "Le Pavé de Chailly," lent by Mr. Sam Salz).

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Barbizon Revisited," January 15–February 24, 1963, no. 109 (as "Le Pavé de Chailly," lent by Mr. Sam Salz).

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Barbizon Revisited," March 14–April 28, 1963, no. 109 (as "Le Pavé de Chailly," lent by Mr. Sam Salz).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionism: A Centenary Exhibition," December 12, 1974–February 10, 1975, not in catalogue.

Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh. "Franse meesters uit het Metropolitan Museum of Art: Realisten en Impressionisten," March 15–May 31, 1987, no. 20.

Cologne. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. "Landschaft im Licht: Impressionistische Malerei in Europa und Nordamerika, 1860-1910," April 6–July 1, 1990, no. 118.

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Landschaft im Licht: Impressionistische Malerei in Europa und Nordamerika, 1860–1910," August 3–October 21, 1990, no. 118.

Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869," April 19–August 8, 1994, no. 120 (as "The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest, the Chailly Road").

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Origins of Impressionism," September 27, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 120 (as "The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest, the Chailly Road").

Art Institute of Chicago. "Claude Monet, 1840–1926," July 22–November 26, 1995, no. 3.

Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Monet and Bazille: A Collaboration," February 23–May 16, 1999, no. 11 (as "The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest, the Chailly Road").

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. "L'école de Barbizon: Peindre en plein air avant l'impressionnisme," June 22–September 9, 2002, no. 84 (as "La Chêne Bodmer, forêt de Fontainebleau").

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Monet's Garden," October 29, 2004–March 13, 2005, no. 6.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 84.

Washington. National Gallery of Art. "In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet," March 2–June 8, 2008, no. 43.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet," July 13–October 19, 2008, no. 43.

Arsène Alexandre. Claude Monet. Paris, 1921, pp. 51–52, claims that it was among a number of pictures slashed by Monet when he had to abandon his studio in 1867 because of debts, and that it was later recognized by Boudin and bought by the nephew of the picture dealer Martin.

John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. New York, 1946, ill. p. 85, dates it about 1867.

John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. rev., enl. ed. New York, 1961, ill. p. 95, dates it about 1866.

Charles Merrill Mount. Monet, a biography. New York, 1966, pp. 89, 225–26, 414, lists it among works bought from Monet by Durand-Ruel in March 1873; claims mistakenly that this work was exhibited in the Salon of 1866.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 124–25, ill.

Margaretta M. Salinger. "Windows Open to Nature." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (Summer 1968), unpaginated, ill.

Douglas Cooper. "The Monets in the Metropolitan Museum." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 281–84, 302, 305, fig. 3, discusses re-titling it, identifying the subject as the Bodmer oak; calls it the latest of several open-air studies made for "Déjeuner sur l'herbe" (W36ab).

Anthea Callen. "Jean-Baptiste Faure, 1830–1914: A Study of a Patron and Collector of the Impressionists and their Contemporaries." Master's thesis, University of Leicester, 1971, p. 318, no. 432, claims that it was sold by Durand-Ruel to Faure on March 13, 1873 and that Faure probably sold it back to Durand-Ruel at a later date [this transaction is not included in Ref. Wildenstein 1974].

Joel Isaacson. Monet: Le déjeuner sur l'herbe. New York, 1972, pp. 99–100 n. 16, finds it "more problematical in its relationship" to the "Déjeuner sur l'herbe" than the landscapes in Paris and Copehagen (W56 and W57) and a third work in a private collection (W19).

Kermit Swiler Champa. Studies in Early Impressionism. New Haven, 1973, p. 5, fig. 9, as "Forest Interior, Fontainebleau"; discusses it as a study of the interactions of light and color occurring in the forest setting.

John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. 4th rev. ed. New York, 1973, ill. p. 95, as "Le Pavé de Chailly"; dates it about 1866.

René Huyghe Lydie Huyghe in La Relève du réel: la peinture française au XIXe siècle: impressionnisme, symbolisme. Paris, 1974, fig. 95, as "Le chêne Bodmer, forêt de Fontainebleau"; dates it about 1866.

Daniel Wildenstein. "1840–1881: Peintures." Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. 1, Lausanne, 1974, pp. 17, 29, 142–43, no. 60, ill., as "Un chêne au Bas-Bréau (Le Bodmer)"; dates it 1865.

Elizabeth H. Jones in Monet Unveiled: A New Look at Boston's Paintings. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1977, p. 12, mentions that a tree very similar in shape to this one is revealed through infrared and radiography under the paint surface of "Road in a Forest with Woodgatherers," of about 1863 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

Robert Gordon, and Andrew Forge. Monet. New York, 1983, ill. p. 21.

Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 106–7, 251, ill. (color).

Monet: A Retrospective. New York, 1985, ill. p. 34.

Sjraar van Heutgen et al. in Franse meesters uit het Metropolitan Museum of Art: Realisten en Impressionisten. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1987, pp. 66–67, no. 20, ill. (color, overall and detail).

Marianne Alphant. Claude Monet: Une vie dans le paysage. [Paris], 1993, p. 113, as "Un chêne au Bas-Bréau".

Jack Flam. "The New Painting." New York Review of Books (November 17, 1994), pp. 48, 50, ill. (color), compares it to Courbet's "Oak Tree in Flagey" (Murauchi Art Museum, Tokyo).

Henri Loyrette in Origins of Impressionism. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1994, pp. 274, 359 [French ed., Paris, 1994].

Gary Tinterow in Gary Tinterow and Henri Loyrette. Origins of Impressionism. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1994, pp. 73–74, 296, 330, 422–23, no. 120, fig. 96 (color) [French ed., "Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869," Paris, 1994], as "Le Chêne de Bodmer: La Route de Chailly (The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest, the Chailly Road"; dates it early or late October 1865; notes that the oak tree was named after the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, who exhibited his painting of it in the 1850 Salon.

Christoph Heilmann in Corot, Courbet und die Maler von Barbizon: "Les amis de la nature". Exh. cat., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen and Haus der Kunst München. Munich, 1996, p. 12, fig. 3, as "Bodmer-Eiche (La chêne de Bodmer, La Route de Chailly)".

Daniel Wildenstein. "Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis: Nos. 1–968." Monet. 2, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 30–31, no. 60, ill. (color), as "Un Chêne au Bas-Bréau (le Bodmer)".

Daniel Wildenstein. Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism. 1, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 58, ill. p. 31 (color).

Joachim Pissarro. Monet and the Mediterranean. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. New York, 1997, pp. 88, 185 n. 3, as "the so-called Pavé de Chailly (1864–65)".

Matthias Arnold. Claude Monet. Hamburg, 1998, p. 97.

Dianne W. Pitman in Monet & Bazille: A Collaboration. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art. Atlanta, 1998, pp. 42, 46, 106, no. 11, ill. pp. 43, 66 (color, overall and detail), states that this picture is a study for "Luncheon on the Grass".

Phaedra Siebert in Monet & Bazille: A Collaboration. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art. Atlanta, 1998, p. 98.

Laurence des Cars in La nascita dell'impressionismo. Exh. cat., Casa dei Carraresi, Treviso. Conegliano, Italy, 2000, p. 73, ill.

Guido Guiffrè in La nascita dell'impressionismo. Exh. cat., Casa dei Carraresi, Treviso. Conegliano, Italy, 2000, p. 272.

Greg M. Thomas. Art and Ecology in Nineteenth-Century France: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau. Princeton, 2000, p. 76, fig. 45.

Vincent Pomarède in L'école de Barbizon: Peindre en plein air avant l'impressionnisme. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. Lyons, 2002, pp. 255, 297, no. 84, ill. p. 270 (color).

Christoph Becker et al. Monet's Garden. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2004, pp. 19, 195, no. 6, ill. p. 21 (color).

Richard R. Brettell and Stephen F. Eisenman. Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum. 1, New Haven, 2006, p. 428, fig. 112a.

Belinda Thomson in Turner e gli impressionisti: La grande storia del paesaggio moderno in Europa. Exh. cat., Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia. Treviso, 2006, p. 184, ill.

Gary Tinterow in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 120, 237–38, no. 84, ill. (color).

Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 134, 279, no. 123, ill. (color and black and white).

Eric M. Zafran in Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 137.

Helga Aurisch in Kimberly Jones. In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2008, p. 175.

Dominique de Font-Réaulx in Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 2008, p. 238, fig. 3 (color) [French ed., Paris, 2007].

Kimberly Jones in Kimberly Jones. In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2008, p. 65, ill. p. vii (color detail) and colorpl. 43.

Sarah Kennel in Kimberly Jones. In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2008, p. 162.

Anne Roquebert in Claude Monet: 1840–1926. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales, Grand Palais. Paris, 2010, p. 92, fig. 3 (color).

Monet frequented Chailly, a village on the edge of the Fontainebleau Forest, from 1863 to 1866. It was there in 1865 and 1866 that he worked on his large composition "Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe," as well as on numerous landscape studies.

This picture was for many years incorrectly known as "The Chailly Road," confusing it with two other paintings of that subject now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (W56) and the Ordrupgaardsamlingen, Copenhagen (W57). The MMA work (W60) depicts an oak tree, no longer extant, made famous by the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809-1893), and often portrayed by painters working in the Fontainebleau Forest.

Wildenstein [see Ref. 1974] dates this work 1865. It is related to the large composition of "Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe," on which Monet worked in 1865 and 1866, and which exists today as two fragments, one in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (W63a) and one in a private collection (W63b). There is also a completed study in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow (W62).