Claude Monet “Water Lilies”

Claude Monet was one of the founders of French Impressionism. Impressionism is a style or movement in painting originating in France in the 1860s, characterized with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting lights and color. The style seeks to capture feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction. Monet lived from 1840 to 1926. During his lifetime he created more than 2,500 paintings, drawings, and pastels. Monet started his art education from the age of 10 and even from a young age choose to avoid accurate depictions. By age 15 he was already drawing exaggerated portraits of people and was building a name for himself.

“Water Lilies” is a large three panel painting (largest painting on the floor). In it Monet brings together his garden, his water lily pond, and the sky above to create a painting that is different from a realistic depiction. In an attempt to capture the constantly changing qualities of natural light and color, spatial cues all but dissolve; above and below, near and far, water and sky all comingle.

Modernism was the moving away from traditional forms of art so it had many different forms. Monet’s style is now known as impressionism. The modernist aesthetic implies a uniqueness captured by the modernist artist. The modernist aesthetic of Monet’s style is what he wanted to exaggerate and emphasize. In this piece an emphasis on light, colors, and time are visible. In this emphasis Monet chose how and what qualities of his viewing he wanted to portray and this was the modernist aesthetic of this piece and his other pieces.

The painting was on the 5^th floor of the museum. The 5^th floor contained paintings and sculptures from the 1880s till the 1940s. As you follow the given directions of the floor and move room to room you encounter very unique works of art. Eventually you get to a room with one large three panel piece with a few other relatively smaller pieces on smaller walls inside the room. The large 3 panel piece is spread out on the longest wall. The wall has two slight curves where the left and right panels meet the center panel. There is a short free-standing barrier that follows the shape of the wall the panels are placed on. The barrier is there to keep people from getting too close to the painting. The lights above the painting emphasize the painting in context to the rest of the room. They point directly at the painting, leaving the rest of the room darker while the painting is lit up. There is a small bench placed a few feet away from the painting. The bench is parallel to the center panel and gives you the ability to view the whole painting with a slight turn of the neck.

Since the painting is so big it already draws the viewers attention. At the same time the curators have carefully placed the painting in a way that further draws the attention of the viewer. The lights on the painting, the bench placement, the curve to the wall, and there being smaller paintings in the room all play a role in pulling the viewers’ attention towards the painting. When seeing the painting I was impressed by its size. I then walked to a position that gave me the best angle of the entire painting. Upon arriving at that position and looking at it for a few seconds, I was over taken by emotion. I cannot specifically describe what emotion, but it was a kind of happy sadness. I stared at the painting for a good few minutes and admired it. I analyzed whatever I could with no context, and very little knowledge of art and just let my emotions flow freely. The piece was absolutely breathtaking. I walked over to the description read it and walked back to where I was originally standing and then experienced the painting again. The painting was so moving, its difficult to describe how emotional and powerful of an effect it had on me. The colors, the shades, the hues, the lighting in the painting, how things blended, how they contrasted, what it was showing, everything about it added up to something absolutely stunning.  A lily pond with natural light shining down is already very beautiful but this depictions of it was really special. Leaving the painting I had tears in my eyes. Leaving the painting I kept telling my friend “bro this painting really got me in my feels.” “bro this painting is crazy.”

I have no questions about the painting, but while doing this paper I learned so much more about the painting and the artist. This information has given me an even deeper feeling for the piece and I hope to be able to see it again and have a new experience with it.