In 1893, three years after buying property at Giverny, Claude Monet began transforming the marshy ground behind his home into a pond, on the narrow end of which he built a Japanese-style wood bridge. Adding both exotic and domestic plantings, including his famous water lilies, the artist created the garden that would be one of his principal subjects for the rest of his life. Water Lily Pond was among the 18 similar versions of the motif that he made in 1899–1900; their common theme was the mingling of the lilies with reflections of other vegetation on the pool’s surface.
Date
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Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
Reference Number
1933.441
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Lucien Descaves, “Chez Claude Monet,” Paris-Magazine, Aug. 25, 1920, p. 354 (ill.).
Gustave Geffroy, “Claude Monet,” L’art et les artistes 2, 11 (Nov. 1920), p. 73 (ill.).
Camille Mauclair, Claude Monet (Rieder, 1924), pp. 63; pl. 39. Republished in Camille Mauclair, Claude Monet, 2nd ed. (Rieder, 1927), p. 63; pl. 39. Translated by J. Lewis May as Claude Monet (Dodd, Mead, 1924), pp. 6; pl. 39.
Florent Fels, Claude Monet: Trente reproductions de peintures et dessins précédées d’une étude critique, Les peintres français nouveaux 22 (Gallimard, 1925), p. 63 (ill.).
“Les toiles de jeunesse de Claude Monet,” L’art vivant, Jan. 1, 1927, p. 22 (ill.)
Léon Werth, Claude Monet (G. Crès, 1928), pl. 50.
Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Watercolors, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1932), p. 20, cat. 25.
Daniel Catton Rich, “The Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection,” in Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Watercolors, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1932), p. 7.
John Rewald, “Monet, Solid Builder of Impressions,” Art News 42, 10 (Oct. 1–14, 1943), p. 25 (ill.).
Saginaw Museum, Exhibition of Nineteenth Century French Painting, exh. cat. (Saginaw Museum, 1949), p. 9, cat. 19.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Catalogue,” Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 51, 2 (Apr. 1, 1957), p. 33.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), p. 320.
A. James Speyer, “Twentieth-Century European Paintings and Sculpture,” Apollo 84, 55 (Sept. 1966), p. 222.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (Sept. 1966), pp. 201, fig. 29; 203.
Denis Rouart and Jean-Dominique Rey, Monet, nymphéas, ou Les miroirs du temps, with a cat. rais. by Robert Maillard (Hazan, 1972), p. 155 (ill.). Translated by David Radzinowicz as Monet, Water Lilies: The Complete Series, rev. ed., with a cat. rais. by Julie Rouart with Camille Sourisse (Flammarion/Rizzoli, 2008), p. 121 (ill.).
John Maxon, “Monet Exhibition,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 69, 2 (Mar.–Apr. 1975), p. 2 (ill.).
Grace Seiberling, “The Evolution of an Impressionist,” in Paintings by Monet, ed. Susan Wise, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), p. 37.
Susan Wise, ed., Paintings by Monet, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), p. 158, cat. 101 (ill.).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monet’s Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism, exh. cat. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1978), pp. 84, cat. 33 (ill.); 161.
Kirk Varnedoe, “In Monet’s Gardens,” New York Times Magazine, Apr. 2, 1978, p. 32 (ill.).
A. James Speyer and Courtney Graham Donnell, Twentieth-Century European Paintings (University of Chicago Press, 1980), p. 58, cat. 3A8; microfiche 3, no. A8 (ill.).
Grace Seiberling, Monet’s Series (Garland, 1981), pp. 219; 230; 276; 438, fig. 30.
Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, Monet (Abrams, 1983), pp. 262, 268–69 (ill.), 294.
Andrea P. A. Belloli, ed., A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), p. 365.
Richard R. Brettell, “The Fields of France,” in A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, ed. Andrea P. A. Belloli, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), p. 246.
Sylvie Gache-Patin, “Private and Public Gardens,” in A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, ed. Andrea P. A. Belloli, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), pp. 211; 215; 224; 230; 236; 239, no. 93 (ill.).
Scott Schaefer, “Rivers, Roads, and Trains,” in A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, ed. Andrea P. A. Belloli, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), p. 154.
Scott Schaefer, “The Retreat from Paris,” in A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, ed. Andrea P. A. Belloli, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), p. 304.
Richard R. Brettell, “La campagne française,” in Réunion des Musées Nationaux, L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1985), p. 261.
Andrew Forge, Monet, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago, 1995), pp. 61; 64; 95, pl. 24; 109.
Sylvie Gache-Patin, “Jardins privés et jardins publics,” in Réunion des Musées Nationaux, L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1985), pp. 217; 220; 252–253, no. 93 (ill.).
John House, “Catalogue of the Exhibition,” in Auckland City Art Gallery, Claude Monet: Painter of Light, exh. cat. (Auckland City Art Gallery/NZI, 1985), pp. 94–95, cat. 27 (ill.); 106.
John House, “Monet and the Genesis of His Series,” in Auckland City Art Gallery, Claude Monet: Painter of Light, exh. cat. (Auckland City Art Gallery/NZI, 1985), p. 25.
Scott Schaefer, “L’évasion loin de Paris,” in Réunion des Musées Nationaux, L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1985), p. 327.
Scott Schaefer, “Rivières, routes et chemins de fer,” in Réunion des Musées Nationaux, L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1985), p. 156.
Virginia Spate, “Transcending the Moment—Monet’s Water Lilies, 1899–1926,” in Auckland City Art Gallery, Claude Monet: Painter of Light, exh. cat. (Auckland City Art Gallery/NZI, 1985), pp. 30, 31.
Charles F. Stuckey, ed., Monet: A Retrospective (Hugh Lauter Levin, 1985), p. 237, pl. 93.
Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 4, Peintures, 1899–1926 (Bibliothèque des Arts, 1985), pp. 21; 194; 195, cat. 1628 (ill.); 349, letters 1580, 1581; 427, pièces justificatives151, 152; 431, pièces justificatives 271, 273; 432, pièce justificative 316.
James G. Ravin, “Monet’s Cataracts,” JAMA: Journal of American Medical Association 254, 3 (July 19, 1985), pp. 394; 395, fig. 2.
Kunstmuseum Basel, Claude Monet, Nymphéas: Impression, Vision, exh. cat. (SV International, 1986), pp. 29; 33, cat. 10 (ill.); 172.
Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, exh. cat. (Ministerio de Cultura, in collaboration with Fundación para el Apoyo de la Cultura, 1986), pp. 380–81, cat. 94 (ill.); 499.
Daniel Wildenstein, “Giverny, o La conquista de lo absolute,” in Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, exh. cat. (Ministerio de Cultura, in collaboration with Fundación para el Apoyo de la Cultura, 1986), p. 68, cat. 94 (ill.).
Richard R. Brettell, Post-Impressionists (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1987), pp. 111, 114 (ill.), 118.
Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood and Katharine C. Lee (Art Institute of Chicago/New York Graphic Society Books/Little, Brown, 1988), p. 72 (ill.).
Charles F. Stuckey, Monet: Water Lilies (Hugh Lauter Levin/Macmillan, 1988), p. 33, pl. 6.
Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood and Katharine C. Lee (Art Institute of Chicago/New York Graphic Society Books/Little, Brown, 1988), p. 72 (ill.).
Paul Hayes Tucker, Monet in the ‘90s: The Series Paintings, exh. cat. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Yale University Press, 1989), pp. 260; 263, pl. 98; 265; 300, cat. 91.
Philip Sandblom, Creativity and Disease: How Illness Affects Literature, Art and Music, rev. ed. (Marion Boyars, 1995), pp. 131, pl. 52; 203.
Charles F. Stuckey, with the assistance of Sophia Shaw, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Thames & Hudson, 1995), pp. 135, cat. 114 (ill.); 234; 246.
Paul Hayes Tucker, Claude Monet: Life and Art (Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 184; 186, pl. 212.
Genevieve Morgan, ed., Monet: The Artist Speaks (Collins, 1996), pp. 85 (ill.), 95.
Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, or The Triumph of Impressionism, cat. rais., vol. 1 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), p. 353.
Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 4, Nos. 1596–1983 et les grandes décorations (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), pp. 728–29, cat. 1628 (ill.).
James G. Ravin, “Artistic Vision in Old Age: Claude Monet,” in Michael F. Marmor and James G. Ravin, The Eye of an Artist (Mosby, 1997), p. 169, fig. 14.1.
George T. M. Shackelford and MaryAnne Stevens, “The Garden at Giverny, 1900–1902,” in Paul Hayes Tucker with George T. M. Shackelford and MaryAnne Stevens, Monet in the 20th Century, exh. cat. (Royal Academy of Arts, London/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 118; 120, cat. 1 (ill.).
Paul Hayes Tucker, “The Revolution in the Garden: Monet in the Twentieth Century,” in Paul Hayes Tucker, with George T. M. Shackelford and MaryAnne Stevens, Monet in the 20th Century, exh. cat. (Royal Academy of Arts, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Yale University Press, 1998), p. 32.
Christopher Yetton, Monet in the 20th Century: An Introduction, exh. cat. (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1999), pp. 30, cat. 1 (ill.); 31 (detail).
“Monet, les nymphéas: L’exposition,” special issue, Connaissance des arts 137 (1999), pp. 62–63, ill. 59.
Pierre Georgel, Claude Monet: Nymphéas (Hazan, 1999), pp. 8, 32 (ill.).
Pierre Georgel with Chantal Georgel and Jacqueline Séjourné, Monet: Le cycle des “Nymphéas,” exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999), pp. 31; 81, cat. 6 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 2000), p. 159 (ill.).
Christie’s, London, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art, sale cat. (Christie’s, June 18, 2000), p. 48, fig. 2.
Karin Sagner-Düchting, “Monet’s Late Work from the Vantage Point of Modernism,” in Monet and Modernism, ed. Karin Sagner-Düchting, exh. cat. (Prestel, 2001), p. 25.
Karin Sagner-Düchting, “The Waterlilies in Giverny and the Grande Décoration,” in Monet and Modernism, ed. Karin Sagner-Düchting, exh. cat. (Prestel, 2001), pp. 66, 73 (ill.).
Norio Shimada and Keiko Sakagami, Kurōdo Mone meigashū: Hikari to kaze no kiseki [Claude Monet: 1881–1926], vol. 2 (Nihon Bijutsu Kyōiku Sentā, 2001), p. 106, no. 234 (ill.); 190.
Debra N. Mancoff, Monet: Nature into Art (Publications International, 2003), pp. 96–97 (ill.), 128.
Françoise Cachin, “Claude Monet, Le pont japonais, sur le basin des nymphéas,” in L’impressionnisme, de France et d’Amérique: Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas … , ed. Françoise Cachin and Richard R. Brettell, exh. cat. (Artlys/Musée Fabre/Musée de Grenoble, 2007), p. 140.
Eric M. Zafran, “Monet in America,” in Wildenstein and Co., Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff, exh. cat. (Wildenstein, 2007), p. 127.
Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 15 (ill.); 19 (ill.); 20 (ill.); 22; 161; 163; 167; 172 (detail); 173, cat. 90 (ill.). Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 15 (ill.); 19 (ill.); 20 (ill.); 22; 161; 163; 167; 172 (detail); 173, cat. 90 (ill.).
Jon Kear, The Treasures of the Impressionists (Andre Deutsch, 2008), pp. 66 (ill.), 72.
Alec Mishory, Still Life: From Represented Objects to Real Objects, vol. 1 (Open University of Israel, 2008), pp. 241, fig. 208; 292.
Michael Sciarrillo and Scott Aker, “Drawing as Insight into Wholeness,” Journal for Geometry and Graphics 12, 1 (2008), pp. 87; 89; 91, fig. 1.
Michel Draguet, Les Nymphéas: Monet; Grandeur; Nature (Hazan, 2010), p. 4, fig. 10.
Mary Mathews Gedo, Monet and His Muse: Camille Monet in the Artist’s Life (University of Chicago Press, 2010), p. 221, fig. 15.1.
Marianne Mathieu and Sophie Matthiesson, Monet’s Garden, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Victoria, 2013), pp. 126 (ill.), 173.
George T.M. Shackelford, Monet: The Late Years, exh. cat. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019), 165, 169 fig. 171.
Gloria Groom, et. al. Monet and Chicago, exh. Cat. (Chicago: Art Institute, 2020), 29 fig. 8, 32 fig. 11, 120 cat. 75, 141.
New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Paintings by Claude Monet, Feb. 1–16, 1915, cat. 8.
Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Watercolors, Apr. 6–Oct. 9, 1932, cat. 25.
Dayton (Ohio) Art Museum, 19th Century French Paintings from the Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (circuit exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts), June 1–June 22, 1948, no cat.; Springfield (Mo.) Art Museum, Sept. 9–30, 1948, no cat.; Probably Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Vassar College Art Gallery, Oct. 15–Nov. 5, 1948; Probably Manchester, N.H., Currier Gallery of Art, Nov. 16–Dec. 7, 1948; Saginaw (Mich.) Museum (as Exhibition of Nineteenth Century French Painting), Dec. 19, 1948–Jan. 9, 1949, cat. 19; Probably Omaha, Neb., Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Jan. 23–Feb. 15, 1949; Probably Memphis, Tenn., Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Mar. 1–22, 1949, no cat.; Utica, N.Y., Munson–Williams-Proctor Institute, Apr. 3–24, 1949, no cat.
Chicago, Remington Rand, window display, Apr. 14–30, 1952, no cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Paintings of Claude Monet, Apr. 1–June 15, 1957, no cat. no.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Monet, Mar. 15–May 11, 1975, cat. 101 (ill.).
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monet’s Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism, Apr. 19–July 9, 1978, cat. 33 (ill.); Saint Louis Art Museum, Aug. 1–Oct. 8, 1978.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape, June 28–Sept. 16, 1984, cat. 93 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 23, 1984–Jan. 6, 1985; Paris, Galeries Nationales d’Exposition du Grand Palais, as L’impressionnisme et le paysage français, Feb. 4–Apr. 22, 1985.
Auckland City Art Gallery, Claude Monet: Painter of Light, Apr. 29–June 9, 1985, cat. 27 (ill.); Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, June 21–Aug. 4, 1985; Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, Aug. 14–Sept. 29, 1985.
Madrid, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, Apr. 29–June 30, 1986, cat. 94 (ill.).
Basel, Kunstmuseum Basel, Claude Monet: Nymphéas, July 20–Oct. 19, 1986, cat. 10 (ill.).
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Monet in the ’90s: The Series Paintings, February 7–April 29, 1990, cat. 91 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, May 19–August 12, 1990; London, Royal Academy of Arts, September 7–December 9, 1990.
Art Institute of Chicago, Claude Monet, 1840–1926, July 22–Nov. 26, 1995, cat. 114 (ill.).
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Monet in the 20th Century, Sept. 20–Dec. 27, 1998, cat. 1 (ill.); London, Royal Academy of Arts, Jan. 23–Apr. 18, 1999; Kunsthaus Zurich, May 6-August 8, 1999.
Paris, Musée National de l’Orangerie, Monet: Le cycle des “Nymphéas,” May 6–Aug. 2, 1999, cat. 6 (ill.).
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 90 (ill.).
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, Monet’s Garden: The Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, May 10–Sept. 8, 2013, no cat. no. (ill.).
Birmingham, United Kingdom, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, June 24, 2017 - September 10, 2017.
Art Institute of Chicago, Monet and Chicago, September 5, 2020-June 14, 2021, cat. 75.
The artist (d. 1026); sold to Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, Dec. 1900 [this and the following per Wildenstein 1996]. Prince de Wagram, 1904. Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, by July 22, 1914 [this and the two following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1913–21 (no. 10710, as Le bassin aux nymphéas, 1900), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 21, 2013, curatorial object file]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, July 22, 1914, for 21,000 francs; sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, Dec. 3 or 30, 1914; sold to Arthur Meeker, Chicago, Apr. 8, 1915, for $7,400 [per Durand-Ruel, New York, stock book for 1904–24 (no. 3807, as Le bassin aux nymphéas, 1900), as confirmed by the Durand-Ruel Archives in the correspondence cited above, curatorial object file. Wildenstein 1996 states that the painting was acquired again by Durand-Ruel around 1923, referencing a letter from Durand-Ruel to A. Meeker, dated Nov. 24, 1923; however, in the 2013 correspondence cited above, the Durand-Ruel Archives explained, “We have not found such information in our archives.”]. Annie Swan Coburn, Chicago (d. 1932), by 1933;
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