The Magpie (1868–69) — Claude Monet Postcard

Painted in the winter of 1868–69 near Étretat, The Magpie is the picture in which Monet decided that shadows on snow are blue, not grey. A single magpie perches on a wattle gate; the rest of the canvas is given over to a long field of white, broken into warm and cool light by the low sun. The Paris Salon rejected it that year — it now reads as one of the earliest, clearest statements of impressionism.

• A6 postcard, 350 g/m² card stock
• Glossy front

Save it for the first snow of the year, or send it to someone who prefers a landscape with only one bird in it.