À propos de l’œuvre
Le Bassin aux nymphéas, le soir, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1914 -1922 · Zürich · W1964 -1965
The Water Lilies Basin, evening W1964 -1965hand painted reproduction
Six meters wide, the pool tilts into late-day light. A deep yellow opens near the center, surrounded by petroleum blues, reds and purples. No horizon, no bank and almost no outline stabilize the scene: the water lilies and their reflections occupy the entire visual field.
Look at the work
A yellow gap crosses the blues and reds of a basin that has become an interior landscape
The composition unfolds in two continuous panels. The central area, yellow and olive green, forms a luminous opening which extends vertically. Around it, the blues and reds densify towards the edges and give the vast format symmetrical breathing without exact repetition.
Water lily leaves appear in small blue-green masses, especially in dark parts. Horizontal touches suggest the surface, while more vertical gestures bring down the reflections. This superposition prevents us from immediately knowing where the water ends and reflected vegetation begins.
The evening light does not come from a visible sky: it seems to rise from the pool and open the paint from the inside.
Composition, touch and light
What Monet builds behind the impression of snapshot
Three precise elements allow us to understand this composition and the essential difficulties of faithful reproduction.
A luminous center held by values
Yellow should not be isolated as a bright spot. It mixes with greens, oranges and purples which ensure the transition to darker areas.
Two panels, one continuity
The central junction remains visible in the real object, but the movement of reflections passes through both parts. The colors must respond to each other without creating two separate compositions.
Nighttime colors still transparent
Petrol blue, garnet red and purple dominate the edges. Shadows must retain variations and warm touches so as not to become black or opaque.
Details and visual documents
Observe the material and the exact version
The additional images show the difficult-to-read passages in the full view and, where it exists, the actual appearance of the work at the museum.
The numerical reference measures 1,200 × 396 px. Actual photographs of the Kunsthaus measure 3,806 × 1,254 px and 6,000 × 4,000 px. They are preserved at their native definition, converted into true WebPs and clearly distinguished from frontal reproduction.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
These facts concern this precise version and are verified from the notice of the institution which keeps it.
Zürich 1952/0064, Wildenstein 1964 -1965
The Kunsthaus Zürich dates this monumental diptych from 1914 -1922. The oil on canvas measures 200 × 600 cm, bears neither signature nor inscription and corresponds to the 1964 and 1965 numbers of the catalog raisonné.
From Monet's workshop to the Kunsthaus
Staying with the artist, the ensemble passed to the estate of Michel Monet in 1926. Emil Georg Bührle bought it in 1952 then offered it the same year to the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft.
Twelve square meters of paint
Photographs taken at the Kunsthaus show the true scale of the panel. Its width far exceeds the size of a spectator and transforms the Giverny basin into an environment rather than a landscape window.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact diptych of the Kunsthaus, 1952/0064 and W1964 -1965
- The original panoramic ratio of 200 × 600 cm
- The yellow gap integrated into the reds, greens and blues
- The continuity of reflections on either side of the central junction
Work sheet
| Title | The Water Lilies Basin, evening W1964 -1965 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1914 - 1922 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 200 × 600 cm |
| Orientation | Panoramic |
| Conservation | Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland |
| Inventory | 1952/0064 · Wildenstein 1964 -1965 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Petrol blue, garnet red, purple and golden yellow give this reproduction a spectacular presence. The panoramic format is suitable for a large open wall, above a low sofa or in a long entrance, with soft lighting that reveals the material.
