Two monumental haystacks dominate the foreground, their conical forms rendered in soft, layered strokes of pink, orange, and violet, catching the fading light of an autumn evening. The larger stack sits to the right, its peak rising above the horizon and breaking into the glowing sky, while a smaller stack stands to the left, both surrounded by a field brushed with purples, greens, and hints of gold. Behind the stacks, a band of blue-green hills stretches across the middle ground, dotted with indistinct shapes that suggest trees and distant rooftops, all softened by the hazy atmosphere.

The sky above shifts from pale blue at the top to warm tones of peach, yellow, and rose near the horizon, with each color blending seamlessly into the next, suggesting the last light of day. Short, visible brushstrokes create a shimmering effect throughout the scene, especially in the grassy field where touches of lavender and green intermingle, giving the surface a lively, textured quality. Stacks of Wheat (End of Day, Autumn) was painted by Claude Monet in 1890–91, as part of a celebrated series depicting stacks of wheat near his farmhouse at Giverny. According to the Art Institute of Chicago, Monet worked on this series both outdoors and in his studio, often painting several canvases at once to capture shifting effects of light and season.

In May 1891, Monet exhibited fifteen of these paintings together at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris, an event that marked a turning point in his career and was hailed as a breakthrough in French art. The museum notes that in this autumn view, as in most from the season, the tops of the stacks rise above the horizon, contrasting with the winter scenes in the series where the stacks are more enveloped by the landscape. The painting's provenance traces its journey from Monet to the dealer Durand-Ruel in Paris, then to Potter Palmer in Chicago, and through various hands before entering the Art Institute's collection as part of the Mr.

and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago holds the largest group of Monet’s Stacks of Wheat paintings in the world, highlighting the significance of this series within the museum's holdings.