Claude Monet – Water Lilies I

Water Lilies I is a hand-painted copy of Monet’s canvas of 1903: a dark band of bank foliage along the top, a violet-blue surface below in which two white clouds are reflected, and bands of lily pads running across the middle. In the catalogue of Monet’s works it carries the number 1656 and measures 100 x 73 cm. We paint it in eight sizes or to your own measurement, with a photograph of the finished work sent for approval before dispatch.

Water Lilies I – Claude Monet

What is shown?

A dark band of bank foliage runs the full width along the top edge; it is densest at the upper right, where the same mass also comes down the right-hand side. Below it the olive-green reflection of that foliage fills the upper half of the water, painted in short vertical touches. The lower half of the surface is violet-blue, and in it lie two large soft reflections of white cumulus, one left of centre and one right. Bands of lily pads cross the surface: one over the upper third with pale yellow flowers, a second to the right of centre, and the largest group low and central, where the flowers are pink-red. In the bottom left corner a separate little group of pads carries two white flowers. The canvas is signed at the lower right. This hand-painted oil painting copies a work with no horizon and no water’s edge: the surface, and what can be seen in it.

Where is the sky?

The scene is seen steeply from above, so there is no horizon and no sky on the canvas — and yet the clouds are there, only inverted. That exchange is the subject: the lightest thing does not hang at the top but lies at the bottom, and the darkest is not in the distance but along the upper edge. Depth is inverted, and the surface becomes a plane and a window at once. An impressionist painting of this kind is built from two opposing strokes: short vertical ones for the reflection of the foliage and broad horizontal ones for the clouds. The lily pads are the third kind — short flat patches that lie on both the others and tie them together. Monet later stretched this idea across whole walls: the Nymphéas rooms at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

This canvas in the catalogue

In the catalogue of Monet’s works it is entered under the number 1656, dated 1903 and measured at 100 x 73 cm, oil on canvas, from the group the painter himself called water landscapes. We recognise it by four things at once: the dark band of foliage comes down the right-hand edge, there are two clouds and not one, the band of pads at the upper right carries yellow flowers, and two white flowers stand alone in the bottom left corner. Canvases from this group are rarely signed with a year, so it is the catalogue that places it in time — the record for this canvas, carrying its catalogue number 1656.

The limits of the record

Where it is today is not publicly recorded. The catalogue lists the work but no collection holding it, so you will find neither a museum name nor an inventory number in the table — neither exists in any publicly available record. That table also used to carry the size 105,3 x 74,6 cm, which we could not confirm anywhere; we have replaced it with the catalogue’s, 100 x 73 cm. The figures come from the catalogue and from nowhere else.

Other water paintings by Monet in our range

Watch the names: without the numeral, Water Lilies is a different work, square and different in light. The same subject in a blue key we sell as Blue Water Lilies. The same pond under another title is The Water Lily Pond. And when there is architecture in the scene it is The Water Lily Pond (Japanese Bridge). All four are the same pond at Giverny seen differently — that is what separates them, not the title.

How is our hand-painted version made?

With this subject the order is everything. The painter lays the violet-blue ground of the water first, then drags the olive reflection of the foliage into the upper half wet-in-wet, and only when that holds do the clouds go on — broad, soft, without an edge, because a reflected cloud has no outline. The lily pads come last, as flat patches that must lie ON the water and not in it. Put them on too early and you get a pattern instead of a surface. An oil painting reproduction of this subject is therefore a test of patience: it is finished in a single moment, when the last patch is in place, and until then it looks unfinished.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 120 x 90 cm above a sofa, 70 x 50 cm for a smaller wall, 150 x 110 cm for a large open one. The original measures 100 x 73 cm, which is close to our 105 x 75 cm if you want to keep the original’s proportion. A painting for living room walls looks up about two thirds of the width of the sofa. This is impressionist wall art that is wide and quiet, with no focal point, so it does better where it is seen close to — in a hallway, beside a bed, over a desk — than on a wall you only see from the far side of the room.

Made to measure, stretcher and frame

If none of the eight sizes suits, we paint to measure — send the width and the height and we will quote a price and a lead time. The canvas painting is stretched over a wooden stretcher and the edges are painted, so it does not look unfinished without a frame. With this subject a narrow dark moulding helps, because it closes a surface that would otherwise look cut off; a broad gilt frame does not suit it, because the subject has no centre for a frame to emphasise.

Delivery and guarantee

We ship to sixteen countries in the European Union, among them Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Italy and Hungary, wrapped in protective film and packed in a rigid box. Before dispatch we send a photograph of the finished work; if something on it is wrong, it is corrected before the piece leaves the workshop. Lead time is longer at the large sizes. You will find our other Monet reproduction subjects in the Claude Monet gallery, and we write about painting and about choosing a subject on the blog.

Frequently asked questions

What year is the original from?

1903. The year comes from the catalogue of Monet’s works, where the painting is entered under number 1656; there is no year on the canvas itself.

Where is the original today?

We do not know and we do not guess. No publicly available record names a collection holding it, so the table gives neither a museum nor an inventory number.

A different size used to be given. Why did it change?

It used to say 105,3 x 74,6 cm, which we could not confirm anywhere. The catalogue gives 100 x 73 cm and that is what we give now. The sizes we paint are unchanged.

Is this the same work as your Water Lilies without a numeral?

It is not. That one is square and lighter; this is wide, from 1903, and has two cloud reflections in it. The numeral in the title is here precisely so the two can be told apart.

Is this a print?

It is not. Every piece is painted by hand in oil on canvas, made to order. With this subject the difference is large: a print flattens the passage between water and reflection, while work by hand keeps the reflection painted in a different direction from the water beneath it.

Which size should I choose?

For an ordinary room, 120 x 90 cm. If you want a size close to the original, take 105 x 75 cm. Before ordering, measure the width of the furniture it will hang above.

Can I have a size that is not listed?

You can. Working to measure is normal here; send the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time before anything starts.

How high should I hang it?

Put the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor. Because the subject is wide and quiet it takes a lower placing well — above a low chest it reads better than high on an empty wall.

Why is there no sky in the painting?

Because the scene is seen downward, into the water. The sky is present only as the reflection of two clouds in the lower half — that is not an omission, it is the whole idea of the work.

Is the original signed?

Yes, at the lower right. On our version the signature is painted where it sits on the original, with no year added.

Does it work as a gift?

It does, and with this subject particularly, because it sits well against almost any wall colour; if you are unsure about the size there is a gift voucher — the recipient then picks both subject and size.

• Hand-painted. Oil on canvas, no print and nothing applied by machine.
• Eight sizes or made to measure. From 50 x 35 to 150 x 110 cm, including 105 x 75 cm.
• A photograph before dispatch. You see the work finished before it leaves the workshop.
• Figures from the catalogue. Year, size and technique are given as the catalogue of Monet’s works records them under number 1656.