Title: Nymphéas, temps gris
Artist: Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 100.2 x 73.2 cm
Date Created: 1907
Description
Claude Monet’s depictions of his garden at Giverny represent the pinnacle of his career. Nymphéas, temps gris, painted in 1907, belongs to a rare series of vertical compositions created during a period of intense creativity. Here, Monet employs an unusual portrait format to capture the transient magic of late afternoon light upon the waterlily pond. A slender stream of luminosity cuts vertically through the canvas, interwoven with swirling vegetal reflections and clusters of floating pads. With gestural brushwork, rich impasto for the flowers, and layered washes of aquatic color, the artist simultaneously seizes the shimmer of light on the surface and the shifting hues in the depths. This imbues the painting with a solemn visual drama, distinguishing it within his contemporaneous Water Lilies series.
This work was included in Monet’s first dedicated exhibition of Water Lilies at Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, in 1909. It was initially acquired by the Parisian pharmaceutical magnate and devoted collector Henri Canonne, who assembled a significant collection of Monet’s work, with a particular focus on the Nymphéas.
Monet moved to Giverny in 1883, purchasing the property in 1890 and gradually transforming it into his horticultural masterpiece. By 1893, a water garden spanned by a Japanese footbridge and artfully planted with flowers and trees had taken shape.
Image Download
Image Dimensions: 2323 x 3200 pixels
Image Size: 3.27 MB
Image Format: JPG
Print Resolution: 300 dpi
Download Format: ZIP Archive
License: Public Domain, Free for Commercial Use
