The Art Institute of Chicago

Water Lily Pond

Oil on canvasClaude Monet (French, 1840–1926)/1900

Description

In 1893, three years after buying property at Giverny, Claude Monet began transforming the marshy ground behind his home into a pond, on the narrow end of which he built a Japanese-style wood bridge. Adding both exotic and domestic plantings, including his famous water lilies, the artist created the garden that would be one of his principal subjects for the rest of his life. Water Lily Pond was among the 18 similar versions of the motif that he made in 1899–1900; their common theme was the mingling of the lilies with reflections of other vegetation on the pool’s surface.

Provenance

The artist (d. 1026); sold to Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, Dec. 1900 [this and the following per Wildenstein 1996]. Prince de Wagram, 1904. Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, by July 22, 1914 [this and the two following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1913–21 (no. 10710, as Le bassin aux nymphéas, 1900), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 21, 2013, curatorial object file]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, July 22, 1914, for 21,000 francs; sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, Dec. 3 or 30, 1914; sold to Arthur Meeker, Chicago, Apr. 8, 1915, for $7,400 [per Durand-Ruel, New York, stock book for 1904–24 (no. 3807, as Le bassin aux nymphéas, 1900), as confirmed by the Durand-Ruel Archives in the correspondence cited above, curatorial object file. Wildenstein 1996 states that the painting was acquired again by Durand-Ruel around 1923, referencing a letter from Durand-Ruel to A. Meeker, dated Nov. 24, 1923; however, in the 2013 correspondence cited above, the Durand-Ruel Archives explained, “We have not found such information in our archives.”]. Annie Swan Coburn, Chicago (d. 1932), by 1933; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.

Dimensions

89.8 × 101 cm (35 3/8 × 39 3/4 in.)

Source

The Art Institute of Chicago

Movement / Period

Impressionism

Accession No

87088

Official Citations

[The Art Institute of Chicago Official Record][Full Resolution Image]

Curatorial Affinity Stream

Continuing the Universe of Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)

Impressionism • France • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries

Continuous Discovery