Description
| Original size: | 201 cm x 100.4 cm |
| Painting style: | Impressionism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
The Water Lily Pond is a hand-painted oil reproduction of a water motif by Monet: a canvas twice as wide as it is high, showing nothing but water in olive green and yellow, with bands of lily pads and red and pink blossoms.
The Water Lily Pond – Claude Monet
What is on the canvas
The canvas is markedly wide — twice as long as it is high — and there is no sky, no bank and no
horizon. Only the surface of the water is shown, seen from above, in olive green,
yellow-green and, in places, blue-violet. The lily pads lie in loose bands: at the upper left a
dense island with red and crimson blossoms, at the lower left a large group of
broad yellow-green pads, and along the right edge another band with pink and red blossoms. Down
the middle, from the top edge, falls a darker vertical reflection of the bank trees, dividing the
surface in two. Between the bands the water is open, painted in long horizontal strokes that
thicken towards the centre into grey-violet. The canvas is signed at the lower right.
Width as the measure
The format is part of the subject. At two to one the eye cannot take in the whole at once but
travels across the canvas from left to right — and that journey is what the scene offers in place
of a story. With no sky and no bank there is nothing to stop or steer the look; only the blossoms
stop it, the single saturated points of colour. This oil on canvas reproduction is therefore built
from two opposing directions: horizontal bands of pads pulling the eye across the width, and one
vertical reflection interrupting it. The stroke is short and thick in the pads, long and thin in
the open water.
The subject among Monet’s works — and what is not established about this original
The same pond in a square format is
Water Lilies; in landscape with
cloud reflections, Water Lilies I.
When architecture enters the scene the result is
The Water Lily Pond (Japanese Bridge);
a wider and still looser section of the same subject is
The Water Lilies – Green Reflections.
What we deliberately do not state here: Monet painted this motif in more than
one version, so which of them is the original behind this particular reproduction is not
established. You will therefore find no year of execution, no collection name and no accession
number on this page. We say what is visible on the canvas and nothing beyond it.
How it works on the wall
The format is panoramic, in a ratio of 2 : 1, and asks for a long, unbroken wall — above a sofa,
above a bed, or above a low sideboard. Because the work is low, it does better hung a little lower,
at seated eye level. 80 x 40 cm and 90 x 45 cm suit a narrower bed or a horizontal accent in a
hallway. 100 x 50 cm and 120 x 60 cm are the usual choices above a two-seater, 140 x 70 cm and
160 x 80 cm above a three-seater. 180 x 90 cm already asks for an empty wall. 201 x 100 cm
is exactly the size of the original and is offered, which is not common for work of this
width. Because the range of colour is warm and earthy, hand-painted canvas art of this kind
settles a room and sits well with wood.
Hand-painted, not printed
This fine art reproduction is made with a brush, not a printer. A print lays the colour in an
evenly thin film, so pads and open water come out equally smooth. Applied by hand the pads sit in
thick, flat touches that cast a small shadow above the canvas, while the open water is dragged
thin and wide. Light is returned differently by those two surfaces, so the pads light up one after
another as you walk along the wall — a print cannot do that, because there everything is the same
thickness. Because it is handwork, every copy differs a little.
Custom sizes, frame, and the view on your own wall
If none of the eight sizes suits your room, we paint to the size you set yourself, keeping the
ratio of the sides, which matters especially in a format this wide. A 3D application is available
for the frame — it is for frame selection only and does not place the work in your
room. If you want to see how it will look on your own wall, that is the separate visualisation
service. The two do not overlap, so we do not mix them.
Ordering, lead time and approval before dispatch
The work is painted to order, so the lead time is 15 to 45 days, and for the
largest sizes usually nearer the upper end. Before anything is sent we send you a photograph of the
finished piece for approval; only once you confirm do we stretch the canvas on a wooden frame and
prepare it for hanging. As wall decor it belongs where there is room beside it — a panoramic format
needs quiet on both sides. The whole range, including further reproductions on canvas and famous
paintings on canvas, is in the
Claude Monet gallery.
- Subject: nothing but the water surface in olive tones, bands of lily pads with red and pink blossoms.
- Technique: oil on canvas; the pads in thick flat touches, the open water in long thin strokes.
- Sizes: panoramic format 2 : 1, eight sizes from 80 x 40 cm to 201 x 100 cm; the largest is exactly the size of the original.
- Worth knowing: at two to one the eye cannot take in the whole at once — the journey across the width is what the scene offers instead of a story.
