Water Lilies

Water Lilies is Monet’s late-career series of roughly 250 oil paintings, inspired by the garden at his home in Giverny. Made over the final 31 years of his life, the series ranges from intimate canvases to monumental panels, with several depicting a Japanese bridge. In these paintings, Monet used shimmering coloration, loose brushwork, and dissolving forms to capture light, reflection, and the shifting effects of atmosphere in a distinctly Impressionist style.

Monet's Water Lilies series is dispersed across museums and private collections worldwide. In the 1920s, the French state installed eight large murals from the series at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, which opened to the public in 1927. Individual works have also appeared at major auction houses, often selling for substantial sums.