[Imi Hye's Reading Western Art History Through Paintings] Monet's Obsession with 'Water Lilies' Blossomed Impressionism

Settling in Giverny 80km from Paris, devoted to creating a pond and gardening at home
Started painting 'Water Lilies' in the late 1890s...Gained fame and wealth after a successful 1909 exhibition
Passed away before seeing the Orangerie exhibition he worked hard on...Now the Marmottan Monet Museum is the new pilgrimage site

Im Mi-hye, Art Historian and Adjunct Professor at Kyungsung University

The Orangerie Museum in Paris can be said to be a temple dedicated to Monet. On the first floor, there are only two large oval exhibition rooms. These two exhibition rooms are entirely covered with Monet's large panel paintings, "Water Lilies." People from all over the world flock here to see the "Water Lilies." It is always crowded with Japanese and Koreans who have a particular love for Impressionism.

Monet began painting the Water Lilies in the late 1890s. It had been 15 years since he settled in Giverny. Giverny is a small village about 80 kilometers northwest of Paris. Although it has become a world-famous attraction today, when Monet moved there in 1883, it was a quiet countryside. The Epte River, a tributary of the Seine, flows through Giverny and into the nearby Seine. Poplars and willows lined the banks of the Epte, and small villages were scattered on the hills across the Seine. Monet liked this place at first sight.

When Monet moved to Giverny, his financial situation was not good. After moving house by stretching himself, Monet worried a lot whether he had made a mistake. But the goddess of fortune was smiling on Monet. In the late 1880s, the evaluation of Impressionism turned favorable, and as the price of paintings rose, Monet was able to escape financial difficulties.

Monet's hobby was gardening. Even when he was poor, whenever he got a house, he planted flowers in the yard first. Originally, Giverny had only a tiny yard, but Monet bought surrounding land and expanded the garden. In 1893, Monet planned to bring water from the Epte River to create a pond. Then the villagers opposed it. To the rural people, water channels were used to turn waterwheels or to water livestock, so the idea of supplying water to a pond was unimaginable. Monet got angry and insisted on his plan. The local government could not ignore Monet, who had become a great artist, and granted permission. Without making the pond, there would have been no "Water Lilies."

Monet, who was busy planting flowers matching the colors in the garden and planting water lilies in the pond, one day picked up a brush and began painting the pond. In the summer of 1897, Monet conceived the idea of a "room surrounded by huge Water Lilies paintings covering the entire wall." This idea was later realized at the Orangerie Museum. To paint such large works, a separate workspace was needed. Monet demolished a shed in a corner of the garden and began building a separate studio with a workspace with light coming through the ceiling, a storage room, a living room, and a bedroom. The studio was completed in 1899.

Claude Monet's "Water Lilies," a work from when Monet began painting the "Water Lilies" series (1897, 73x100 cm, Mus?e Marmottan Monet, Paris, France).

In 1900, Monet, who was sixty years old, held his first "Water Lilies" exhibition at the Durand-Ruel Gallery. Twelve Water Lilies were exhibited. In 1901, Monet could not paint Water Lilies because he was expanding the pond. In 1903, the pond was again filled with Water Lilies, and Monet threw himself into painting. The "Water Lilies" exhibition held in 1909 was a great success.

Having started his path as a painter in the 1860s, Monet achieved much. Impressionism spread worldwide, and Monet built his fame and wealth with a single brush. The garden in Giverny, where Water Lilies bloomed in full, was proof of this. However, a gloomy later life awaited him. In 1911, his wife Alice passed away. Alice was Monet's second wife. The two met as a poor painter and the wife of a wealthy patron, overcame many hardships, and lived together for over 30 years. Monet was so grief-stricken that he could not hold a brush for a while. In 1914, his eldest son Jean, who had been suffering from a chronic illness, died. Outside, World War I was raging, and young people were dying. The war had come close to Giverny. Monet's second son Michel and Alice's son Jean-Pierre Hosched? enlisted, and a field hospital was set up in Giverny. Monet, over seventy years old, had almost lost his eyesight. This was the result of decades of painting outdoors under direct sunlight, straining his eyes. But the only thing Monet could do was paint.

In 1914, Monet began the "Water Lilies" series, thinking it would be his last work. Dozens of canvases piled up. On November 11, 1918, the armistice was declared. The next day, Monet wrote a letter to Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. It was a letter stating his intention to donate the large "Water Lilies" to the nation "to console the souls who died during the war and to commemorate the restoration of peace." Clemenceau had been a close friend of Monet since their youth. He was a progressive journalist who had devoted his life to democratizing France and had become prime minister in 1917.

When Monet worked on the series, he started several canvases simultaneously, adjusting the overall tone and atmosphere as he completed them. While Monet wrestled with his works, Clemenceau searched for an exhibition space. At first, the recently opened Rodin Museum was considered. The person who suggested the Orangerie was Clemenceau. The Orangerie was the greenhouse of the Tuileries Palace and was being used for miscellaneous purposes at the time. Clemenceau occasionally visited Giverny to encourage the weakened Monet and negotiated with the relevant ministry to begin converting the Orangerie into an exhibition space.

Orangerie 'Water Lilies' Exhibition Room

Monet passed away in December 1926 without seeing his "Water Lilies" hung in the museum. The following year, the Orangerie Museum opened with Clemenceau in attendance. The two oval exhibition rooms were surrounded by eight "Water Lilies." Each painting was two meters high, and when all eight were connected, the width reached 91 meters. The four panels in the first exhibition room depict "Clouds Reflected in Water," "Morning," "Green Shadows," and "Sunset," respectively. The four panels in the second exhibition room depict the effects created by willows by the water and the pond. Standing before this enormous painting, one feels immersed in the sky, water, and light. It is a magnificent and beautiful work that sums up Monet's artistic life.

The "Water Lilies" are difficult to classify strictly as Impressionism. In his later years, Monet moved away from the Impressionist method of observing and reproducing landscapes. Instead, his interest shifted to color itself and the harmony of colors. When the "Water Lilies" are arranged chronologically, it becomes clear that in the later works, what is being depicted becomes less important, and the changes in color and atmosphere created by light and air become more significant. Eventually, the indicative elements showing that it is a pond disappear entirely, leaving only reflections of light, the transparency of water, the sky reflected therein, and flickering shadows. It is no coincidence that the abstract painter Kandinsky was inspired by Monet's late works.

However, unlike the bustling present-day Orangerie Museum, there were hardly any visitors when it first opened. In the late 1920s, people's interest was focused on avant-garde art such as abstraction, Cubism, and Surrealism. Impressionism was regarded as an outdated trend and was being forgotten. The Orangerie became a popular museum in the latter half of the 20th century. After the postwar world museums held Impressionism exhibitions, research books were published, and Impressionist works set record prices in the art market, the Orangerie became crowded with visitors.

Giverny, where Monet lived for 43 years, was inherited by his second son Michel. Blanche Hosched?, Monet's stepdaughter and daughter-in-law, managed Giverny. Blanche, Alice's daughter, had artistic talent and was cherished by Monet. She grew up and married Monet's eldest son Jean. Even after Jean died in 1914, she stayed by Monet's side and managed Giverny. When Blanche passed away in 1947, Giverny became overgrown with weeds.

Giverny, Monet's House

Michel died in a car accident in 1966. Having no children, Michel had written a will donating his father's works, collection, and Giverny to the Acad?mie des Beaux-Arts. The academy had no funds to restore and manage Giverny, so it was left neglected.

In the late 1970s, American philanthropists raised funds, allowing Giverny to be restored. It was opened to the public in 1980 and today is a famous attraction visited by 500,000 people annually.

Most of the "Water Lilies" painted by Monet are currently at the Marmottan Monet Museum. Monet painted 125 "Water Lilies" from 1914 to 1926. Of these, eight were donated to the nation, leading to the creation of the Orangerie Museum. The rest were inherited by Michel. As mentioned above, when Monet died, Impressionism had fallen out of public interest. The Orangerie Museum was empty due to lack of visitors, and Michel could not sell the many "Water Lilies" he inherited.

The academy that received the donation of the "Water Lilies" chose the Marmottan as the exhibition space. Since the museum was too small, they excavated the garden to create a new underground exhibition room. In 1970, the Marmottan Museum was renamed the Marmottan Monet Museum and reopened. It has become another sanctuary for Monet today.

Art historian and visiting professor at Kyungsung University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.