Water Lilies
1906
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.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
16568
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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 be...
Art Historical Context
Claude Monet’s *Water Lilies* (1906) captures the luminous surface of the pond at his Giverny garden in France, where the artist spent his later years immersed in nature. As a founder of Impressionism, Monet moved beyond early landscapes to create more than 250 paintings of these water lilies, using loose brushwork and layered color to record the shifting effects of light and reflection rather than precise botanical detail. This particular canvas, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, exemplifies his lifelong pursuit of painting the ephemeral. Painted in oil on canvas, the work’s square format and close-up view eliminate the horizon line, drawing viewers into an almost abstract field of blues, greens, and pinks. Monet’s technique—thick, broken strokes that suggest ripples and floating blooms—reveals his fascination with how atmosphere transforms ordinary subjects. By 1906, these canvases had become meditations on perception itself, influencing generations of modern artists who explored color and form freed from literal representation. Today the painting offers visitors a tranquil window into Monet’s private world while demonstrating Impressionism’s lasting impact on how we see and value the fleeting beauty of everyday surroundings.
About the Artist
Claude Monet · 1840–1926
Claude Monet, born Oscar-Claude Monet on November 14, 1840, in Paris and raised in Le Havre, Normandy, began his artistic journey as a successful teenage caricaturist. His formal training started at the Le Havre secondary school of the arts in 1851, where he received his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochard. Around 1858, he met Eugène Boudin, who became his pivotal mentor, introducin...