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Water Lilies (Agapanthus)
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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.
| Artist / Maker | Claude Monet |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 1915–26 |
| Culture / Origin | France, late 19th century-early 20th century |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 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.) |
| Department | Modern European Painting and Sculpture |
| Type | Painting |
About the Artist
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… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
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