Water-lilies: an in-depth look at Monet’s most famous art series
Words by Meg Bulmer
When I was at school I went on a three day art trip to Paris. During the three days we visited, alongside tourist attractions like the eiffel tower, many of the most famous art galleries in the city. Years later and there’s still so much I remember from the trip; the impressive industrial pipework on the outside of The Centre Pompidou, the brilliant glass pyramid of The Louvre, the beautiful interior architecture of Musée d’Orsay. I felt privileged to have the opportunity to see the city and the remarkable artwork housed by its many galleries. Of this artwork, I remember feeling most impacted by Monet’s Water Lilies, housed in the Musée de l’Orangerie.
Located on the bank of the Seine, Musée de l’Orangerie is home to many extraordinary impressionist and post-impressionist works of art, including eight of Monet’s Water Lilies murals. These murals are displayed impactfully throughout two adjoining large white oval rooms within the gallery. The paintings are mounted almost floor to ceiling in beautiful curved panels along the walls, in a way that makes the viewer feel completely immersed in the peace and serenity of the pieces.
Water Lilies Gallery, Musée de l'Orangerie
Born in 1840, Claude Monet began life as the son of a French grocer in Paris, and in 1851 he started his artistic education at the Le Havre secondary school of the arts. From an early age his talent earned him a positive reputation, particularly at first as a result of his charcoal caricatures, which he sold locally while still enrolled at school. Despite his beginning with this artistic medium, throughout his life he went on to produce the most beautiful and famous of his works in oil paint, which he was taught to use in 1856 by Eugène Boudin. Remarkably, today Monet is famed for being one of the principal figures in the French impressionist movement. In fact, his ingenious works on nature and landscape made him the foremost impressionist landscape painter of the movement. One of these works, displayed at an exhibition in 1874, gave the movement its name: Monet displayed the piece Impression: Sunrise, at what is now regarded as the very first exhibition of impressionism.
Impression Sunrise, 1872 by Claude Monet
It wasn’t until 1906, 32 years after this first exhibition, that Monet painted the Water Lilies series. In fact, this most famous series of paintings was the third of three groups of water landscapes by Monet, all of which featured the beautiful garden pond at his beloved home in Giverny. These water landscapes, which he painted from 1897 until his death in 1926, marked a significant change in focus for Monet. Up until this point the subjects of his pieces had been fairly varied, including both simple landscapes and more complex scenes containing figures. However, from 1897 onwards he became more and more focused solely on the setting of his water lily pond. Interestingly, this increased fixation on a singular subject can be further seen from the subtle differences between the three groups of paintings he produced during this period. For example, the first group of water-lily pieces that Monet painted between 1897 and 1899 featured, alongside the water lilies, aspects of the surrounding landscape, such as the Japanese footbridge and the surrounding trees. In addition, and perhaps most significantly, these early paintings also included a depiction of the fixed horizon.
The Water Lily Pond, 1899 by Claude Monet
However, the spatial concept created by the horizon, and the surrounding features such as the trees and the bridge, were totally abandoned by Monet when he came to paint his third and most famous group of water lily paintings. This series, Water Lilies, is focused entirely on the surface of the pond, and considers only the surrounding landscape through the rippling reflections of the water’s surface. It is painted by Monet from his perspective looking downwards, and depicts only the reflections and rich colours of the pond, along with the lush vegetation floating on the water. One could almost imagine that towards the end of his life Monet became less concerned with the complexities of the world, and more interested in creating works that invoked a sense of calm and tranquillity. This development in Monet’s focus, therefore, could be interpreted as symbolic of a gradual falling away of all that clusters and clutters our lives, and a prioritising of that which brings us peace.
Water Lilies, Harmony in Blue, 1917 by Claude Monet
Interestingly, a lesser known talent of Monet’s was his ability to garden. It seems that the landscape at his home in Giverny not only inspired him to paint, but also to plant and grow new life to feature in his work. In fact, Monet himself observed: “I’m good for nothing except painting and gardening”. These two passions poignantly intertwined in Monet’s old age, and allowed him to apply his creativity and ingenuity to a remarkable degree; not only did Monet paint the landscape, he also dug his hands into its soil, caring for it and shaping it in line with his artistic vision. This makes his artworks even more powerful, as they represent not just his passion for painting, but also his relationship with nature, and his deep connection to the subjects which he encapsulated so beautifully with each brushstroke. In this way, Monet succeeded in leaving behind a remarkable legacy; his artwork, displayed so elegantly in galleries like Musée de l’Orangerie, remains as a poignant reminder of the peace and beauty nature gifts us in our lives, and implores us to show it our gratitude and love in return.
