One of Monet’s critics described this canvas of 1919 as waterlilies "in full flower assert[ing] themselves … their golden discs encased in purple, against the cloudy waters." Although the almost eighty-year-old artist was reluctant to part with recent paintings, he made this landscape and three related pictures with an eye to the market, telling his dealers, Gaston and Josse Bernheim, that he was "working on them passionately." The Bernheim brothers quickly purchased the quartet.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Water Lilies
Artist:Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)
Date:1919
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:39 3/4 x 78 3/4 in. (101 x 200 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1998, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
Object Number:1998.325.2
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): Claude Monet 1919
the artist, Giverny (1919; sold in October to Bernheim-Jeune); [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1919–21; stock no. 21.742, photo negative no. 09719; sold share in January 1921 to Durand-Ruel, stock no. 11873, photo no. 9394]; [Bernheim-Jeune and Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1921–22; in 1922, Durand-Ruel sold their share back to Bernheim-Jeune]; [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1922–ca. 1928; sold to Canonne]; Henri de Canonne, Paris (ca. 1928–at least 1936); Garabjol, Paris (until 1967; sold in November to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, Paris and New York, 1967–68; sold on May 6 to Annenberg]; Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1968–98; jointly with The Met, 1998–his d. 2002)
Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition Claude Monet," January 21–February 2, 1921, no. 44 or 45 (as "Nymphéas").
New York. Durand-Ruel. "Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet," January 4–21, 1922, no. 9 (as "Le bassin aux nymphéas, Giverny").
Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Tableaux par Claude Monet," January 6–19, 1928, no. 83 [added to the 2nd ed. of the cat.].
Paris. Paul Rosenberg. "Exposition d'oeuvres de Claude Monet," April 2–30, 1936, no. 30 (as "Grands nymphéas," lent by Monsieur Henri Canonne).
London. Tate Gallery. "The Annenberg Collection," September 2–October 8, 1969, no. 23 (as "Nympheas").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism," April 19–July 9, 1978, no. 75 (as "Water Lilies").
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism," August 1–October 8, 1978, no. 75.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Claude Monet. Letter to Gaston and Josse Bernheim-Jeune. August 25, 1919 [reprinted in Ref. Wildenstein 1985, p. 403, letter 2319], mentions that he is working on a series of landscapes [including this picture] that may interest them.
[François] T[hiébault].-S[isson]. "Art et curiosité: Une exposition Claude Monet." Le temps (January 7, 1928), p. 4, mentions it as the newest of the 82 works being exhibited at Durand-Ruel from January 6–19 and produced not more than eight years ago.
Arsène Alexandre. La collection Canonne: Une histoire en action de l'Impressionnisme et de ses suites. Paris, 1930, p. 47, colorpl. 6.
M. Roy Fisher. The Annenberg Collection. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1969, unpaginated, no. 23, ill. (color).
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet. Milan, 1971, ill. p. 81.
Robert Maillard in Denis Rouart and Jean-Dominique Rey. Monet, Water-Lilies: Or the Mirror of Time. New York, 1974, unpaginated, ill. [French ed., 1972].
Charles S. Moffett. Monet's Water Lilies. New York, 1978, pp. 7, 13 n. 24, colorpl. 15, notes that the four signed and dated "Water Lilies" of 1919, including this work, were the only water lilies panels sold by Monet during his lifetime.
Robert Gordon and Charles F. Stuckey. "Blossoms and Blunders: Monet and the State." Art in America 67 (January–February 1979), pp. 103, 110, fig. 1 (color), state that Bernheim-Jeune and Durand-Ruel jointly purchased four small-scale "Water Lilies," including this picture, in October 1919 and exhibited them in Paris and New York beginning in 1921.
Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge. Monet. New York, 1983, ill. p. 277.
Daniel Wildenstein. Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 4, 1899–1926: Peintures. Lausanne, 1985, pp. 88–90, 288–89, 324 under no. 1983, 403 (letter 2319), no. 1891, ill.
Charles F. Stuckey, ed. Monet: A Retrospective. New York, 1985, colorpl. 112.
Christian Geelhaar inClaude Monet: Nymphéas. Ed. Christian Geelhaar. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Basel, 1986, p. 114 n. 169.
Catherine Barnett. "A Very Private View: Inside Walter Annenberg's Personal Paradise." Art & Antiques 6 (March 1989), p. 106, ill. (color).
Colin B. Bailey inMasterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Colin B. Bailey, Joseph J. Rishel, and Mark Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. 60–61, 169–70, ill. (color and black and white), notes that it belonged to a group unrelated to Monet's decorative series or to a panel then in progress, but painted "specifically for the art market"; identifies the other three "Water Lilies" sold in 1919 as W1890 (sale, Christie's, London, June 24, 2008, no. 16), W1893 (cut in half prior to 1944; each half in a private collection), and W1894 (sale, Christie's, New York, November 11, 1992, no. 38).
Gary Tinterow. "Miracle au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 472 (June 1991), p. 38.
Jérôme Coignard. "Le Salon de peinture de Mr. et Mrs. Annenberg." Beaux arts no. 92 (July–August 1991), p. 69.
Charles F. Stuckey. Claude Monet, 1840–1926. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1995, p. 250.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 478, ill. p. 479.
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet. Vol. 4, Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis: Nos. 1596–1983 et les grandes décorations. 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 898–99, no. 1891, ill. (color), states that it was purchased by Bernheim-Jeune in November 1919.
Daniel Wildenstein. Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 410.
Paul Hayes Tucker inMonet in the 20th Century. Ed. Paul Hayes Tucker and Mary Anne Stevens. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1998, pp. 69, 75, 79, fig. 49 (color), cites it as an example of a finished painting and compares it to an incomplete working sketch.
George T. M. Shackelford and Mary Anne Stevens inMonet in the 20th Century. Ed. Paul Hayes Tucker and Mary Anne Stevens. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1998, p. 218.
Ira Berkow. "Jewels in the Desert." Art News 97 (May 1998), pp. 146–47, ill. (color).
Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1998–1999." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 57 (Fall 1999), pp. 5, 60–61, ill. (color).
Pierre Georgel. Monet: Le cycle des "Nymphéas," catalogue sommaire. Exh. cat., Musée National de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1999, pp. 46–47, 225, fig. 48.
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art. Christie's, New York. May 8, 2000, p. 107, fig. 3 (color).
Eric M. Zafran inClaude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 130.
Impressionist / Modern Evening Sale. Christie's, London. June 24, 2008, pp. 78–79.
Colin B. Bailey inMasterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein and Asher Ethan Miller. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 86, 89–94, no. 18, ill. (color) and p. viii (color, installation photo).
Paul Hayes Tucker inClaude Monet: Late Work. Ed. Paul Hayes Tucker. Exh. cat., Gagosian Gallery. New York, 2010, p. 35, discusses the provenance of four water-lily pictures, of which this is one, in the period of 1919–28 while in Bernheim-Jeune's possession and the dealers' difficulty selling them.
Jill Shaw inMonet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw. Chicago, 2014, para. 7, under no. 47, fig. 47.4 (color) [https://publications.artic.edu/monet/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/135470], compares it to the posthumously sold “Water Lily Pond” (1917/19, Art Institute of Chicago); notes the latter’s unfinished edges and corners, areas Monet was known to complete just before giving a painting to a buyer.
Colta Ives. Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2018, pp. 105, 186, ill. p. 2, fig. 102 (color, overall and detail).
Claire M. Barry inMonet: The Late Years. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Fort Worth, 2019, pp. 40–45, figs. 64, 68, 69 (color, overall and details), compares it in size and format to both "Water-Lily Pond" (1917–19, private collection) and to twenty stretched horizontal canvases Monet ordered on April 30, 1918 from his Paris supplier, Le Besnard; notes that Monet signed the picture when he sold it in 1919; suggests the artist began the painting outdoors in late afternoon light; discusses the picture's painting technique.
This painting is one of a group of eleven paintings of approximately the same size, all of which take the same segment of the lily pond as their motif (W1890–1900). Four of these eleven, signed by the artist, were sold in the fall of 1919 to Bernheim-Jeune. The three other signed canvases are identified in Bailey 1991 (see Refs). The seven unsigned Water Lilies are W 1892 and W 1895-1900.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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