polity french third republicconcept:era modern
Nymphéas (Water Lilies, Orangerie cycle)
Monumental oil on canvas cycle (1914–1926) by Claude Monet, comprising eight large panels installed as two oval rooms at the Orangerie, Paris. Monet's most ambitious late work and his gift to the French state. Permanently installed at the Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris.
Scholarly Significance
Monet's monumental late-career Water Lilies cycle; his gift to France and the culmination of his Giverny work.
Notes
- ·Monet offered the panels as a gift to France on November 11, 1918, the day of the Armistice.
- ·Georges Clemenceau negotiated the gift and insisted on the permanent installation at the Orangerie.
- ·Monet was nearly blind from cataracts during the final years of production; the panels were completed just before his death in December 1926.
- ·Inaugurated February 17, 1927, two months after Monet's death.
- ·Considered a bridge between Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism — strongly influenced Mark Rothko and others.
- ·The two oval rooms were designed by architect Camille Lefèvre to Monet's specifications.