Between 1890 and 1891 Monet devoted some thirty paintings to the haystacks in a field near his house at Giverny. In the midst of this effort, he wrote to the critic Gustave Geoffroy: I am working very hard, struggling with a series of different effects (haystacks), but at this season the sun sets so fast I cannot follow it... .? The more I continue, the more I see that a great deal of work is necessary in order to succeed in rendering what I seek. Haystacks was the first group of paintings that Monet exhibited as a series; in 1891, fifteen were shown at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris.