Claude Monet was extremely passionate about his garden and his water lilies and painted an entire series of beautiful images depicting these flowers. He actually grew white water lilies in the water garden he arranged in his property at Giverny in 1893. His garden became his only source of inspiration from the 1910s until his passing in 1926. He is quoted to having said: “I have come back to things that are impossible to do: water with weeds waving in the depths. Apart from painting and gardening, I am good for nothing. My greatest masterpiece is my garden.”
The square shape of this particular work compliments the shapeless surface which has no details standing out – the focus is placed on the infinite, pattern-like, limitless feeling that close-up of the pond conferred. The viewer only sees a part of the pond, not the horizon above or the ground on which he is standing. Through its flowing colors and wavy lines, it seems that the painting captures a moment as it unfolds in time, thus proposing a view of an infinite universe.
A close look at the canvas allows us to see just how free the brushstrokes were, with no apparent attachment to the physical, despite its clear representation. The painter managed to create a figurative painting that is soft, ethereal and contemplative, in many ways conveying the vibe of a religious experience.