Claude Monet’s Water Lilies

French Impressionist Claude Monet often painted in series and en plein air (outdoors) to capture the changing effects of light, atmosphere, and weather on his favorite, recurring subjects—rivers, cathedrals, haystacks, and water lily ponds. In 1883, he and his family moved 45 miles northwest of Paris to the village of Giverny. During the next few years, he would expand the grounds and gardens at Giverny, build a Japanese foot bridge, and divert a nearby stream to form a lily pond. An avid gardener, he studied horticultural magazines and consulted with specialists to design his English-inspired flower garden and Japanese-inspired water garden which today make Giverny a popular tourist destination.

HoMA’s Water Lilies focuses on the water itself, including the lily pads and reflections of the nearby plants and sky. With no traditional horizon line, the painting becomes more about color, texture, and light, as opposed to representation of a specific place. Water and sky are almost indistinguishable from one another, and the painting moves toward abstraction. As he got older, Monet developed cataracts, which affected his vision and color perception. In later works, such as this one, his palette included intense hues applied in wide brushstrokes that twist and turn on the canvas.

HoMA visitors may have a Monet experience in here in Honolulu by visiting our Impressionism and Beyond Gallery and our very own lily pond, in the Chinese Courtyard. The museum was designed and built in 1926 (the same year that Monet died) with open-air spaces to take advantage of Hawai‘i’s climate and outdoor lifestyle. The courtyards and grounds were designed by Catherine Jones Richards, Hawai‘i’s first licensed landscape architect, who included the lily pond as a site for contemplation, beauty, and serenity.— Katherine Love, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
Water Lilies, 1917–1919
Oil on canvas
Purchased in memory of Robert Allerton, 1966 (3385.1)
Claude Monet Giverny Garden; photo by Ariane Cauderlier