Teach with Collections: Claude Monet, Monet‚ Water Lily Pond, Giverny, Haute-Normandie, France

Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge represents two of Monet’s greatest achievements: his gardens at Giverny and the series of paintings they inspired. In 1883 the artist moved to this country town, near Paris but just across the border of Normandy, and immediately began to redesign the property. In 1893, Monet purchased an adjacent tract, which included a small brook, and transformed the site into an Asian-inspired oasis of cool greens, exotic plants, and calm waters, enhanced by a Japanese footbridge. The serial approach embodied in this work—one of about a dozen paintings in which Monet returned to the same view under differing weather and light conditions—was one of his great formal innovations. He was committed to painting directly from nature as frequently as possible and whenever weather permitted, sometimes working on eight or more canvases in the same day. Monet’s project to capture ever-shifting atmospheric conditions came to be a hallmark of the Impressionist style.

Conversation prompts: Monet painted Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge both as part of a series and “en plein air,” or outdoors, with his canvas and easel set up before the scene. 

How might these aspects of Monet’s technique be significant in thinking about his depiction of light and color? 

Looking across the surface of the canvas, what do you notice about the different colors and the thickness of the paint Monet used? 

How did Monet depict depth in this composition? Which framing effects did he use?