Water Lilies
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Auction Details
Sale: Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
Date: January 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM EST
Location: New York
Specifications
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Year | 1919 |
| Dimensions | 36 × 36 in (91.4 × 91.4 cm) |
| Signed | Lower right |
| Framed | Yes |
Provenance
Private collection, Paris (acquired directly from the artist, 1920)
By descent to the present owner
Exhibited: Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1924
Literature: Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet, catalogue raisonné, vol. IV, no. 1856
Description
This magnificent Water Lilies painting represents one of Claude Monet's most celebrated subjects, created during the final decades of his life when he devoted himself almost exclusively to capturing the ethereal beauty of his water garden at Giverny.
Executed in 1919, this work exemplifies Monet's mature impressionist style, characterized by loose, expressive brushwork and a masterful handling of light and color. The composition immerses the viewer in the tranquil pond, with water lilies floating on the surface amidst reflections of the sky and surrounding vegetation.
The painting's square format, a radical departure from traditional landscape orientations, creates an intimate, meditative quality that draws the viewer into Monet's contemplative world. The artist's revolutionary approach to capturing fleeting atmospheric effects and his pioneering exploration of pure visual sensation would profoundly influence generations of artists to come.
This work has remained in the same distinguished private collection since its acquisition from the artist in 1920, making it one of the rare Water Lilies paintings to appear at auction with such impeccable provenance.