Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000259Water Lilies (Agapanthus)
by Claude Monet
About the Artwork
A skilled horticulturalist as well as an artist, Claude Monet spent the last 30 years of his life painting the private garden he designed and helped cultivate at his home in Giverny in northern France. The resultant canvases are notable for their varied motifs, formats, and sizes. Monumental in scale, this rendering of his water lily pond focuses on the momentary effects of sunlight as it both penetrates and reflects off its shimmering surface. By zeroing in on the water and omitting its horizon and surrounding banks, Monet infers a limitless expanse—a perception amplified by the painting’s vast horizontal format that fills the viewer’s field of vision.
Inscriptions
Estate stamp lower left: Claude Monet
Provenance
Estate of the artist. Michel Monet, Giverny, through 1950 (according to Connaissance des arts 1966). Katia Granoff, Paris. Bought from her by Knoedler & Co. (stock number a 6420), July 1956. 1960-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Paths of Abstract Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 5-November 13, 1960). Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961). Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965). Fifty Years of Modern Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 15-July 31, 1966). Color and Field, 1890 - 1970. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (September 15-November 1, 1970); Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH (November 20, 1970-January 10, 1971); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 3-March 14, 1971). Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 22-July 9, 1978); Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (co-organizer) (August 1-October 8, 1978). The Monet Triptych: Water Lilies. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 5-June 15, 1979); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 18, 1979-February 17, 1980); Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (co-organizer) (April 1-September 1, 1980). Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987). CMA Highlights. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 21-September 11, 2005). Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008). Monet in Normandy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 18-May 28, 2007). Monet's Water Lilies. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (April 9-August 7, 2011); Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (October 2, 2011-January 22, 2012). Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 6, 2015-January 5, 2016); Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 30-April 20, 2016). Monet / Mitchell. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France (organizer) (October 5, 2022-February 27, 2023). Monet in Focus. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 31-August 11, 2024).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
- Date
- c. 1915–26
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 204.9 x 430.3 x 6 cm (80 11/16 x 169 7/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 201.3 x 425.6 cm (79 1/4 x 167 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund and an anonymous gift
- Accession no.
- 1960.81
More by Claude Monet in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000259
Powered by Art Trackers