Water Lilies
Water Lilies is Monet's most celebrated series -- approximately 250 paintings depicting the water garden at his estate in Giverny. Dreamy, atmospheric, and meditative, these works are among the greatest achievements in Western painting.
Water Lilies (Nympheas) is the collective title given to a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by Claude Monet, created between 1896 and his death in 1926. The paintings depict the water lily pond in his garden at Giverny, which he designed and tended with obsessive care.
Unlike traditional landscapes, the Water Lilies offer no sky, no horizon, no reference points -- only the surface of the water, the lily pads, and the reflections of clouds and sky. This radical cropping creates a sense of immersion and contemplation that profoundly influenced abstract painters and installation artists for generations.
The largest Water Lilies -- the eight panels commissioned for the Orangerie in Paris -- were Monet's final gift to France, completed just before his death. They remain among the most transcendent experiences in all of Western art.