Monet & his Water Lilies at MoMA

“Clemenceau came to pay us a visit after lunch and stayed until 5 o’clock. … He was so amazed by the garden, and the water lilies, that he said to his daughter as he left: ‘You know, on the way home we are going to sell Bernouville, there is nothing more to be done after seeing Monet’s garden!’” Alice Monet, June 1909*

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, has in its collection a number of Claude Monet’s paintings of the pond he created, the water lilies and the Japanese bridge. These include the large triptych, Water Lilies (1914–26), a painting of the water lilies in the pond, Water Lilies (1914–26), The Japanese Footbridge (c. 1920–22) and Agapanthus (1914–26).

These paintings have a special status within MoMA’s collection, this museum was the first public collection in the United States of America to acquire one of Monet’s large-scaled paintings. For a limited time, these paintings, and two loans of similar paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will be on show for the first time in MoMA’s new Manhattan building.

“Monet’s Water Lilies” will be on show until 12 April 2010. A book, titled Claude Monet: Water Lilies by Ann Temkin and Nora Lawrence, that recounts the history of Monet’s water lilies paintings in the Museum’s collection has been published to coincide with the exhibition.

Claude Monet. Water Lilies, Reflections of Weeping Willows. 1914–1926. Oil on canvas. 51 1/4″ x 78 3/4″ (130.2 x 200 cm). Private collection. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Look in the photograph at the top of this article to see the reflections of the weeping willows on Monet’s pond.

Click here, for more information about the exhibition on MoMA’s website. If you have seen the exhibition, leave a comment below.

*Quote from page 57, Monet’s Garden in Giverny inventing the landscape. 2009. Musées des Impressionnismes, Giverny.