Artwork App

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.)

Water Lilies

“One instant, one aspect of nature contains it all,” said Claude Monet, referring to his late masterpieces, the water landscapes that he produced at his home in Giverny between 1897 and his death in 1926. These works replaced the varied contemporary subjects he had painted from the 1870s through the 1890s with a single, timeless motif—water lilies. The focal point of these paintings was the artist’s beloved ﬂower garden, which featured a water garden and a smaller pond spanned by a Japanese footbridge. In his first water-lily series (1897–99), Monet painted the pond environment, with its plants, bridge, and trees neatly divided by a fixed horizon. Over time, the artist became less and less concerned with conventional pictorial space. By the time he painted Water Lilies, which comes from his third group of these works, he had dispensed with the horizon line altogether. In this spatially ambiguous canvas, the artist looked down, focusing solely on the surface of the pond, with its cluster of vegetation ﬂoating amid the reﬂection of sky and trees. Monet thus created the image of a horizontal surface on a vertical one.

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Colors

Exhibition History

Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Les nymphéas: Séries de paysages d’eau par Claude Monet, May 6–June 5, 1909, cat. 15, as Série 1906. Saint Louis, Noonan-Kocian Gallery, Tableaux Durand-Ruel (circuit exhibition, held Oct. 1911–Jan. 1912); Chicago, Auditorium Hotel; Cincinnati, no cat. no. Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Nov. 7–Dec. 12, 1937, cat. 16 (ill.). Bloomington, Ill., Scottish Rite Temple, Central Illinois Art Exposition, Mar. 19–Apr. 8, 1939, cat. 26. Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, Origins of Modern Art, Apr. 2–30, 1940, cat. 63. Sioux City (Iowa) Art Center, Three Old Masters from Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 4–end Sept. 1949, no cat. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, An Experimental Gallery Featuring the Art Historical Background to Impressionism, Oct. 12, 1953–Mar. 31, 1954, no cat. Wichita (Kans.) Art Museum, Three Centuries of French Painting, May 9–23, 1954, cat. 17. University of Chicago, Renaissance Society, Painters in Color, Oct. 14–Nov. 14, 1956, no cat. Art Institute of Chicago, The Paintings of Claude Monet, Apr. 1–June 15, 1957, no cat. no. Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Monet, Mar. 15–May 11, 1975, cat. 110 (ill.). Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Trésors impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27–Aug. 31, 1980, cat. 15 (ill.). Highland Park, Ill., Neison Harris, July 12–Dec. 19, 1984, no cat. Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, Shikago bijutsukan insho-ha ten [The impressionist tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago], Oct. 18–Dec. 17, 1985, cat. 64 (ill.); Fukuoka Art Museum, Jan. 5–Feb. 2, 1986; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Mar. 4–Apr. 13, 1986. Basel, Kunstmuseum Basel, Claude Monet: Nymphéas, July 20–Oct. 19, 1986, cat. 22 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream, a World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago 1893–1993, Nov. 1–Jan. 9, 1994, no cat. no. Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Claude Monet 1840–1926, July 22–Nov. 26, 1995, cat. 130 (ill.). Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Monet in the 20th Century, Sept. 20–Dec. 27, 1998, cat. 32 (ill.); London, Royal Academy of Arts, Jan. 23–Apr. 18, 1999; Kunsthaus Zurich, May 6-August 8, 1999. Paris, Musée National de l’Orangerie, Monet: Le cycle des Nymphéas, May 6–Aug. 2, 1999, cat. 15 (ill.). Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 91 (ill.). Charlottenlund, Ordrupgaard, Monet: Beyond Impressionism, August 24-December 4, 2016, fig. 106. San Francisco, De Young Museum, Monet: The Late Years, February 16 - May 27 2019, cat. 6; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, June 6 - September 15 2019. Art Institute of Chicago, Monet and Chicago, September 5, 2020-June 14, 2021, cat. 78. Beijing, Palace Museum, Garden Cultures of China and the West, Apr. 1–June 30, 2025; Suzhou Museum, July 19–Oct. 31, 2025; Ningbo Museum, Dec. 5, 2025–Mar. 8, 2026; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Apr. 23–July 29, 2026. Beijing, Palace Museum, Rejoicing in Woods and Springs: A Journey through Garden Cultures in China and the Wider World, Apr. 1–June 30, 2025, cat. 154; Suzhou China, Suzhou Museum, July 19–Oct. 31, 2025; Ningbo, China, Ningbo Museum, Dec. 5, 2025–Mar. 8, 2026; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Apr. 23–July 29, 2026.