An artwork on Galleree from Cleveland Museum of Art.
About the artwork
Water Lilies (Agapanthus)c. 1915–26
Claude Monet
Claude Monet spent his youth in Le Havre in Normandy, where his father worked as a wholesale grocer. By the age of sixteen, he had exhibited some of his caricatures in an art supply store, leading to his acquaintance with Boudin (q.v.). It was Boudin who first encouraged him to paint out of doors. In 1859 Monet traveled to Paris, where he saw Boudin's salon debut and met Constant Troyon (1810-1865). A year later he joined the Académie Suisse, where he was introduced to Pissarro (q.v.), but his studies were interrupted in 1861 when he was drafted for a seven-year stint in the military. His family would pay for his release from military duties only if he gave up painting. Finding this unacceptable, Monet served for one year in Algeria before an early return to France to convalesce after a severe illness. In 1862 he met Jongkind (q.v.), another important influence on the young painter's development. Monet's father then allowed him to pursue his art career in Paris, where he entered the studio of the Swiss painter Charles Gleyre (1806-1874). He studied with Gleyre until 1864 and befriended Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870), Renoir (q.v.), and Sisley (q.v.), with whom he painted in the forest of Fontainebleau (Déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1865, two fragments in Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Monet first exhibited at the Salon of 1865 and would do so again in 1866, 1868, and 1880. In 1868 he shared a studio with Bazille and Renoir but was soon forced to leave Paris to escape his creditors. He took his mistress, Camille Doncieux, and their son, Jean, to Fécamp, then Étretat, and finally Saint-Michel. There Renoir provided hospitality, and the two also painted at the boating and bathing center of La Grenouillère on the Seine. In 1870 Monet married Camille and, to escape the Franco-Prussian War, left for London, where he remained for nine months and met Durand-Ruel, his first dealer. In the summer of 1871 he visited the Netherlands and then settled in Argenteuil, to the west of Paris. He converted a boat into a studio, as Daubigny (q.v.) had done before him, allowing him to explore different viewpoints for his landscapes. He assisted in the organization of the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874, partly because Durand-Ruel's worsened business situation had prevented the dealer from buying his art. The following year he participated in the Hôtel Drouot sale with Morisot (q.v.), Renoir, and Sisley. In 1878 Monet and his wife moved to Vétheuil with the Hoschedés, who had previously commissioned some works. Camille died the following year, and, while Ernest Hoschedé spent most of his time in Paris trying to settle his precarious financial situation, Monet stayed behind with Ernest's wife, Alice. In 1881 he moved with her and her children to Poissy and within two years was living at Giverny, where he would remain for the rest of his life. He painted some of his famous scenes-the haystack and poplar series, for example- in 1890-91. Ernest Hoschedé died in 1891, and Monet married Alice the following year. At Giverny, Monet explored the themes of his garden and water lilies. He continued to travel, going to Norway in 1895, making three trips to London from 1899 through 1901, and taking Alice to Venice in 1908. The final years of his life were mainly spent working on his Great Decorations, large paintings of a water lily pond designed for two oval rooms at the Paris Orangerie. Monet is generally considered the most typical exponent of impressionism.
A skilled horticulturalist as well as an artist, Claude Monet spent the last 30 years of his life painting the private garden he designed and helped cultivate at his home in Giverny in northern France. The resultant canvases are notable for their varied motifs, formats, and sizes. Monumental in scale, this rendering of his water lily pond focuses on the momentary effects of sunlight as it both penetrates and reflects off its shimmering surface. By zeroing in on the water and omitting its horizon and surrounding banks, Monet infers a limitless expanse—a perception amplified by the painting’s vast horizontal format that fills the viewer’s field of vision.
Water lilies were a recurring theme in Monet's work; he painted around 250 water lily compositions.
oil on canvas
Framed: 204.9 x 430.3 x 6 cm (80 11/16 x 169 7/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 201.3 x 425.6 cm (79 1/4 x 167 9/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund and an anonymous gift
In the quaint village of Giverny, northern France, a sanctuary of color bloomed under the deft hands of Claude Monet. As both a skilled horticulturalist and an artist, he found inspiration not just in paint, but in the earth itself. For three glorious decades, Monet dedicated his life to nurturing a private garden that would become a living canvas—a delicate interplay of flora and light, bursting with the whispers of nature.
Imagine walking through this enchanted space. The air is fragrant with the scents of blooming flowers, and the gentle rustle of leaves dances in tune with the soft hum of bees. Monet’s garden, a treasure of vibrant greens and bursts of color, lies at the heart of his creativity, each blossom a brushstroke in a masterpiece yet to unfold.
As the sun begins its descent, painting the sky with hues of orange and pink, Monet’s gaze is captured by a familiar scene—a tranquil water lily pond that mirrors the essence of ephemeral beauty. He focuses intently on this shimmering surface, a delicate world where sunlight both penetrates and reflects, conjuring momentary effects that are too ethereal to hold.
By framing the water pond in his art, Monet transcends boundaries, stripping away the horizon and the surrounding banks that might confine the viewer's imagination. Instead, he offers a limitless expanse to contemplate. This vast horizontal canvas stretches wide, inviting us to lose ourselves in its depths, and its tranquility washes over the observer like a soft breeze on a warm day.
In his final years, Monet poured his soul into capturing this endless water-scape, each brushstroke a tribute to life's fleeting moments. His paintings tell the story of a man who found solace in nature and translated it into art—a peaceful journey woven through time, pulling us gently to the heart of Giverny.
About the artist
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