Claude Monet’s Haystacks series generally includes 25 paintings.
Monet painted the Haystacks, also called Grainstacks, series mainly during 1890 and 1891 near his home in Giverny. The repeated subject was a group of harvested grainstacks in a field near his house.
Rather than treating the haystacks as one fixed composition, Monet used them to study changes in sunlight, weather, season, and time of day. The same basic forms could look dramatically different under snow, warm evening light, or a clear sky.
The number 25 refers to the commonly recognized series, although catalogues and discussions can vary slightly depending on whether studies and related versions are counted. The series is important because it made serial observation a central feature of Monet’s mature method, alongside later groups such as Rouen Cathedral and Water Lilies.