Water Lilies
Little did Claude Monet know that the water garden he created three years after buying his Giverny, France, property in 1890 would become his primary inspiration over the next two and a half decades. These paintings, numbering around 250, mark Monet’s artistic journey from more straightforward depictions of the pond spanned by the wooden Japanese bridge to the monumental and near-abstract series on the water lily theme he made in preparation for his murals at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris between 1914 and 1926. Water Lilies, one of a group of paintings on the subject made between 1903 a...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 89.9 × 94.1 cm (35 3/8 × 37 1/16 in.); Framed: 103.2 × 107 × 5.8 cm (40 5/8 × 42 1/8 × 2 1/4 in.)
- Origin
- France
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Holding institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image provider
- art-institute-chicago
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes and Waterscapes Both · 99%
The catalog identifies the work as a landscape centered on a pond, and the image presents the water garden as the entire pictorial environment.
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Water Both · 99%
Water is identified in the catalog and dominates the image as a broad blue-green pond surface.
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Flora Both · 99%
The catalog identifies water lilies, plants, and flowers; the image visibly contains numerous lily pads and blossoms.
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Reflections Both · 97%
Reflections are listed in the catalog, and diffuse vertical and horizontal passages across the pond suggest reflected trees, clouds, and light.
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Abstract Landscape Both · 86%
The catalog describes the work as part of Monet’s movement toward near-abstract water-lily compositions, while the image suppresses a conventional horizon and land-sky structure in favor of floating color, reflection, and partially generalized forms.
Styles and Movements
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Impressionism Both · 99%
The catalog lists Impressionism as a style, and the image shows broken, visible brushwork emphasizing changing color, light, and reflected forms.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The museum classifies the work as a painting and identifies its medium as oil on canvas.
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The catalog specifies oil on canvas.
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Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 94%
Individual overlapping strokes remain visible throughout the water, reflected passages, and lily clusters.
Time Periods
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1900 - 1917 Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to 1906.
Geographic Regions
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French Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies Monet as French and gives France as the place of origin.
Source & rights
Claude Monet. Water Lilies. The Art Institute of Chicago.