Monet's+Water+Lilies

Monet’s Water Lilies are a series of 250 oil paintings created by the impressionist painter between 1897 and his death in 1926. Each was created in his flower garden at Giverny. Monet moved to the French village of Giverny in 1883 inspired by the beauty of the landscapes. There he painted the plant life on his property and remodeled the landscapes and gardens. He imported water lilies from Egypt and South America although it went against the demands of local authorities. He also featured a Japanese footbridge in seventeen of his paintings, reflecting changes in lighting and weather conditions. These paintings were the focus of Monet’s later life even when suffering from cataracts.
 * Monet’s Water Lilies **

During Monet’s time his impressionist paintings were looked down upon as being messy due to his poor vision. This encouraged Monet to become a perfectionist in his work towards the end of his life. For twenty years after his death the paintings were ignored. It was not until the 1950s that curators rediscovered Monet, crediting him with paving the path to the fashionable art of the day. By 1955, the Museum of Modern Art had purchased their first Monet from this series, and it quickly became one of the famed museum’s most popular holdings.

At the Musée de l’Orangerie, Monet’s grandest works are on display in two oval exhibition rooms. Monet promised these paintings to the French Nation as a “monument of peace” after World War I. They had only later been displayed in the Musée de l’Orangerie, as Monet had dreamed. In 1999 the Musée de l’Orangerie held a Monet exhibit with sixty Water Lily pieces. Today pieces of the series are found in various museums all across the world. The paintings represent the beauty of nature and Peace for France after the war.