Internationally recognised art and literary critic, writer and cultural producer. Published in ELLE, Glamour, Esquire and Cosmopolitan; member of the Union of Writers.
Claude Monet is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of all time. His paintings of water lilies, haystacks, and cathedrals have captivated generations of viewers with their luminous colors and expressive brushstrokes. But what if there was a Monet painting that had never been seen by the public before? A painting that had been hidden away in a private collection for over half a century, preserved in pristine condition and untouched by the ravages of time?
That is exactly what Christie’s auction house has announced for its upcoming evening sale of 20th-century works on November 9. The painting, entitled “Le bassin aux nymphéas” or “Water lily pond,” is part of Monet’s famous “Water Lilies” series, which he painted in the last three decades of his life at his home in Giverny, France. The painting, which measures two meters (6.6 feet) wide, depicts a tranquil scene of light reflecting on the surface of a pond, creating shimmering patterns and mirroring the water lilies and willow trees that surround it.
The painting dates from around 1917-1919, a period when Monet was at the height of his artistic powers and experimenting with new ways of capturing the ephemeral effects of nature. As he wrote to his friend Gustave Geffroy in 1908, “These landscapes of water and reflections have become an obsession for me. It is beyond my strength as an old man, and yet I want to render what I feel.”
Monet painted over 250 water lily paintings in his lifetime, but only a few of them are as large and ambitious as this one. The painting belongs to a group of 19 monumental canvases that Monet intended to donate to the French state as a symbol of peace after World War I. He envisioned them as a cycle of paintings that would surround the viewer in a circular room, creating an immersive experience of nature and harmony. However, only eight of these paintings were eventually installed in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris in 1927, a few months after Monet’s death. The rest remained in his studio or were sold to private collectors.
Monet’s influence on modern art cannot be overstated. He was a pioneer of Impressionism, a movement that challenged the conventions of academic painting and sought to capture the fleeting impressions of light and color in nature. He was also a precursor of modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it, rather than as it objectively appeared. His abstract compositions and expressive brushwork inspired later artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and many others.
The painting that will be offered at Christie’s is a testament to Monet’s enduring legacy and artistic vision. It is a rare opportunity for collectors and admirers alike to witness a masterpiece that has been hidden from view for decades. As Carter said, “With Monet, seemingly everything has already been seen or said. Le bassin aux nymphéas is, however, that rarest thing: A masterpiece rediscovered.”
