Skip to Content
Closed now, next open tomorrow. Closed now, next open tomorrow.

Water Lilies

Painting of a pond seen up close spotted with thickly painted pink and white water lilies and a shadow across the top third of the picture.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • Painting of a pond seen up close spotted with thickly painted pink and white water lilies and a shadow across the top third of the picture.

Date:

1906

Artist:

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)

About this artwork

Little did Claude Monet know that the water garden he created three years after buying his Giverny, France, property in 1890 would become his primary inspiration over the next two and a half decades. These paintings, numbering around 250, mark Monet’s artistic journey from more straightforward depictions of the pond spanned by the wooden Japanese bridge to the monumental and near-abstract series on the water lily theme he made in preparation for his murals at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris between 1914 and 1926.

Water Lilies, one of a group of paintings on the subject made between 1903 and 1908, comes at the midpoint of Monet’s developing style and spatial experimentations. The nearly square format underscores his move away from painting the conventional zones of land, sky, and water to focus solely on the water’s surface. Clusters of water lilies at bottom left and top right frame a watery path, while the water’s surface reflects trees and clouds. Although the dreamlike quality of floating forms might seem to be a natural development for the artist, he considered these works “an obsession,” a sentiment borne out by technical examinations on the Art Institute’s canvas, revealing many significant changes made to the painting in progress.

Status

On loan to Hong Kong Museum of Art in Hong Kong for Rejoicing in Woods and Springs: A Journey through Garden Cultures in China and the Wider World

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Claude Monet

Title

Water Lilies

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1906

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Inscribed lower right: Claude Monet 1906

Dimensions

89.9 × 94.1 cm (35 3/8 × 37 1/16 in.); Framed: 103.2 × 107 × 5.8 cm (40 5/8 × 42 1/8 × 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1933.1157

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16568/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share