Water Lily Pond at Giverny

Claude Monet

Contemporary-Art.org
Keywords: WaterLilyPondGiverny

Work Overview

Water Lily Pond at Giverny
Claude Monet
Date: 1918 - 1919
Style: Impressionism
Series: Water Lilies
Genre: flower painting


Sometimes the painter's passion turned violent. In 1908, Monet destroyed 15 of his Water Lilies right before they were to be exhibited at the Durand-Ruel gallery in Paris. Apparently, the artist was so unhappy with the paintings that he decided to ruin them rather than have the work go on public display. 


Considering how cruel his critics were, it's little wonder that in his later years Monet became incredibly selective about which paintings he would sign and attempt to sell. Just four paintings made the grade in 1919. One of those lucky few can now be seen on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  


Over the years spent painting his beloved aquatic garden, Monet moved closer and closer to it. The edges of his pond moved to the edges of the frame and beyond until he had cut out the horizon altogether. From there, his works became a study of water and how it reflects light and the world above it. 


In 1918, Monet completed a series of 12 paintings he intended to be laid out side by side in a specially made oval room where viewers could step in and be given (as he put it) "the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon or bank." Monet said these were meant to create "the refuge of a peaceful meditation in the center of a flowering aquarium." Today three such panels (displayed as a triptych) are on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art, measuring more than 6 feet by 41 feet.