- Dimensions
- 89.9 × 94.1 cm
- Medium
- Oil on linen canvas
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
Water Lilies
1906
Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting wh…
✦ Highlights (technique & color)
To capture the luminosity of light, lead white was mixed into nearly all the pigments, lending the surface a distinctive sheen and body. The blues of the water were created by blending French ultramarine and cobalt blue. For the red petals in the foreground, organic red lake and vermilion were loaded onto the brush without prior mixing on the palette and applied directly to the canvas. Furthermore, strokes of costly cobalt violet—appearing as if squeezed straight from the tube—were applied to the shadowed ripples, heightening the effect of optical vibration.
✦ The setting of this painting
This scene depicts the garden of Monet's home in Giverny, roughly sixty kilometers northwest of Paris. After purchasing the property in 1890, Monet acquired adjacent land in 1893 to expand the pond and construct a Japanese-style arched footbridge. The diverse flora planted in this "water garden"—including exotic hybrid water lilies, willows, and irises—remained his primary source of inspiration for more than twenty-five years.
✦ Historical context
Created at the midpoint of Monet's intensive work on his Water Lilies series between 1903 and 1908, this piece was painted when his spatial experiments reached their zenith. Monet entirely eliminated traditional spatial anchors such as the horizon and the sky from the composition, opting for a nearly square canvas. By focusing the viewer's gaze purely on the reflections across the water's surface, this revolutionary approach became a decisive turning point that paved the way for abstract painting.
Vibrant water lilies float upon a surface where complex shades of blue and green intermingle.
About 60 kilometers northwest of Paris, this is the water garden Claude Monet created at his home in Giverny.
At first glance, it appears to be a lovely, tranquil painting capturing a serene waterscape.
And yet.
Monet obsessively painted over the water lily leaves he had initially brought to life on the canvas.
Having bought the Giverny property in 1890, Monet acquired adjacent land in 1893 to expand the pond, adding a Japanese-style arched bridge. Planted with exotic hybrid water lilies, weeping willows, and irises, this rich flora became his ultimate muse for over a quarter of a century.
By 1906, when this piece was painted, Monet was in his mid-sixties. Entering his twilight years, he was increasingly aware of his failing eyesight and physical decline. Even so, his passion for painting this pond burned with extraordinary intensity—a drive he described in letters as an "obsession."
He stripped the canvas of the traditional elements long considered essential to landscape art: the horizon, the banks, and the sky. Choosing a nearly square canvas, he dared to pioneer a radical spatial expression—focusing the viewer's gaze purely on the reflections dancing across the water.
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