À propos de l’œuvre
Le Bassin aux nymphéas, reflets verts, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1920 -1926 · 4.25 m panel · Inventory 73
The Water Lilies Basin, green reflectionshand painted reproduction
The pool becomes a monumental surface area of 8.5 m². Water lilies float above green, blue and gray reflections which descend in long touches; the absence of sky and shore places the viewer directly facing the water.
Look at the work
At the panel scale, reflections become a physical space
The composition has neither vanishing point nor pool edge. The dark areas of the corners catch the eye, while the large central passage, lighter and more open, gives a luminous depth. Vertical touches suggest what is reflected above the water, but the trees and sky remain off-camera.
The leaves and flowers interrupt this vertical movement with short horizontal lines. The whites and yellows catch the surface, the pinks and reds advance, then the cold greens connect them to the water. This overlay transforms the pattern into a colored field without losing the feel of the actual pool.
At four meters twenty-five wide, each flower remains a punctuation; it is the continuity of the reflections, and not the repetition of the water lilies, which holds the whole together.
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.
Dark margins that envelop the panel
The very deep blues of the corners prevent the composition from dispersing. They frame the central area without producing a regular border.
A depth obtained by the direction of the keys
The reflections descend vertically, while the water lilies spread horizontally. The change of direction is enough to separate depth and surface.
A decorative scale refused by irregularities
The flower groups do not follow any symmetrical pattern. Their density changes suddenly, maintaining the sensation of a living garden in a monumental format.
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 official view of the Bührle Collection measures 2400 × 1118 px. Details of 1450 × 760 px come from the top and deep area of the same panel. All three WebPs are native, without oversampling.
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.
Dated 1920 -1926 by the Bührle Collection
The 200 × 425 cm canvas bears a workshop stamp on its frame. It is listed as Wildenstein 1979 and kept under number 73.
A panel associated with the Great Decorations project
The work is one of the twenty large two-meter-high panels remaining in the Giverny workshop and not integrated into the final cycle offered to the French State for the Orangery.
Chosen at the Monet exhibition in Zurich in 1952
Emil Bührle bought the panel from Michel Monet around May 19, 1952, during the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich. The photograph taken then provides a precise reference for the date of the transaction.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- Colorful continuity across the entire panoramic width
- Dark corners without artificial frame effect
- Horizontal leaves distinct from vertical reflections
- The irregular density of red, pink and white flowers
Work sheet
| Title | The Water Lilies Basin, green reflections |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1920 - 1926 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 200 × 425 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal panoramic |
| Conservation | EG Bührle Collection Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Inventory | 73 · Wildenstein 1979 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Designed as a real panorama, this reproduction finds its strength on a long wall, with sufficient perspective. Its aquatic palette accompanies light wood, stone, linen and natural greens without requiring a busy decor.
