Monet's Iconic Water Lily Paintings


I love this painting so much. It is an impressionist painting which is my favorite style. I was able to find that this painting was done from 1915 to 1926. When I look at this painting I am able to see some nice soft movement. The lily pads give the vibe of moving around due to the light summer breeze that is blowing. There is some great color contrast in this painting. The light flowers against the dark blue background are stunning. The scale of this painting was huge. The landscape view of it stretched across an entire wall. Something I thought was really interesting was that it was a curved painting. It wasn't just straight against the wall, it was curved so it could be hung on a circular wall. 

I think that when you hear the words impressionist style, one of the first artists people are going to think of is Monet. Then when people think of Monet they tend to think of his iconic water lily collection. His brush strokes inspire tranquility and peace. His depiction of nature is truly spectacular. Culturally Monet is an icon and people will always remember him, his style, and his water lilies. Furthermore, I think these paintings can give the French some pride in their country. A lot of people just think of Paris when they think of France, but as we can see through Monet's paintings, there is so much more to France. 

I think this painting contributes to Paris status in a few ways. One of the first ways is just that it is such an iconic painting within an iconic series. These waterlily paintings are the reason that Monet is their favorite artist. Because of this, it brings in art lovers. They come to Paris to see these paintings. The museum where this painting is kept is also home to many other great art pieces that these people that came for the Monets now get to explore. Another reason it contributes to Paris’s status is because people want to see the real life place that inspired these paintings. Monet's art gets people to experience Paris. 

Comments

  1. European StudiesMay 7, 2024 at 2:01 PM

    I love this post! I also love impressionist paintings. You could use this post to to answer question number 3 on the final. In this post you talked about how people think of Monet when they think of impressionism and that is so true! Paris uses that to promote itself. You also answered how it is a cultural capital because of the way people come to Paris for the art work!

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