On The Enduring Magic of Monet's Nymphéas

F ew artists are as closely associated with a particular species of flower as Claude Monet is with water lilies. Over the course of a long and accomplished career in the vanguard of Impressionism, the artist’s gardens and pond at his house in Giverny became a compelling, ever-changing source of inspiration. A kaleidoscope of colours, forms and patterns that enthralled the artist, he was transfixed by the way they seemed to change colour and form, as the annual cycle of the seasons affected the garden's light and atmosphere.

Over the years, Monet primed his waterlilies with care. He carefully planted his gardens with bamboo and rhododendrons and fringed them with Japanese apple and cherry trees but it was water lilies that captured Monet’s imagination, becoming one of the defining motifs of his work and thus on the evolution of Modern art. His legacy of experimental exploration can be considered as a precursor to the abstraction that came to prominence in the post-war years.

His Nymphéas series is seen as being amongst Monet’s greatest achievements and some of the most iconic and celebrated Impressionist paintings in the world. This particular painting which is being offered in the March 2022 Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction is part of a group painted during the First World War as Monet worked towards his Grandes Décorations, a sequence of monumental paintings of the gardens he began creating in 1914, examples of which are on display at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris and New York's Museum of Modern Art. This period saw Monet shifting from Impressionism towards Abstract Expressionism, as he plunged deep into the heart of his lush gardens, intoxicated with the sheer profusion. Unlike many of Monet’s works from this time, this example is unusual in its vertical format although the dreamy colour palette of blues, greens and purples is instantly recognisable.

"It took me some time to understand my water lilies. I planted them purely for pleasure; I grew them with no thought of painting them. A landscape takes more than a day to get under your skin. And then, all at once, I had the revelation - how wonderful my pond was - and reached for my palette. I've hardly had any other subject since that moment."

Monet moved to Giverny in 1883 where he rented a house with a large garden. Thanks to his ever-increasing financial success, Monet was able to buy the property in the early 1890s and eventually purchased a large adjacent plot of land. With enormous vigour and determination, Monet swiftly set about transforming the gardens and creating a large pond. There were initially a number of complaints about his plans to divert the river Epte through his garden in order to feed the pond, which he had to address in his application to the Prefet of the Eure department.

After the turn of the century, the gardens around Monet's Giverny home became the central theme of his work and Monet produced a series of paintings on the themes of the Japanese footbridge and the water lilies, paying exacting attention to the details of the garden, including maintaining the pond and plants in a perfect state for painting.

In 1914, Monet began work on his Grandes Decorations, a sequence of monumental paintings of the gardens that would take his depictions of the water lily pond in a radical new direction. That same year, after constructing an enormous garden that could surround him while he worked, Monet conceived of a group of paintings that would similarly envelop the viewer in a peaceful environment. At this scale, Monet surrounded the viewer with multiple depictions of the lily pond, allowing the shifting colors of the water's reflections during the course of the day to create a nearly abstract environment of aqueous sensations.

With this example coming from Monet’s last period of experimentation, the depiction of floating water lilies and the reflections of hanging willow tendrils in the surface of the water is richly textured and indicative of the explorations of colour and form that would become Monet’s legacy.

Past Auction

Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction

2 March 2022 | 5:00 PM GMT | London