À propos de l’œuvre
Le Pont japonais, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · around 1920 -1922 · MoMA · W1932
The Japanese Bridge, MoMA W1932hand painted reproduction
The Japanese bridge of Giverny can be seen in the middle of a whirlwind of reds, oranges, blues and yellows. Twenty-five years after his first views of the motif, Monet abandoned almost any naturalistic description: the arch remains like a clear line drowned in fiery material.
Look at the work
The bridge remains visible in the heart of a garden transformed by color
The arch crosses the lower center in the form of a yellow, white and blue ribbon. It is never fully drawn. The red and brown masses pass in front of it, while deep blues open intervals that prevent the surface from closing.
The upper part is dominated by vertical and circular gestures, with acidic yellows, oranges and dark greens. At the bottom, the keys lengthen to suggest water and reflections. The pattern remains identifiable thanks to the change in direction of the material.
In this late work, the bridge is no longer an object placed in the garden: it emerges then disappears to the rhythm of the layers of color which reconstruct the entire scene.
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 clear arch almost swallowed up
The bridge line must remain discontinuous. Specifying it too much would return the canvas to the naturalist versions of the 1890s and remove its late tension.
A unique palette of reds from Monet
Brown, rust and orange dominate, but they are crossed by blues, greens and yellows. These oppositions maintain the vibration of matter.
Key directions that replace perspective
Vertical gestures of vegetation meet more horizontal passages of water. Their difference is enough to organize space despite the absence of traditional depth.
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 reference view measures 4,500 × 3,408 px; the detail measures 2,400 × 1,700 px and the actual photograph of the work at MoMA 3,132 × 2,388 px. No files have been enlarged; all three images are real WebPs.
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.
MoMA 242.1956, Wildenstein 1932
The Museum of Modern Art dates this oil on canvas from around 1920 -1922 and reads 89.5 × 116.3 cm. The work is numbered 242.1956 and corresponds to Wildenstein 1932.
One of the last paintings of this motif
MoMA places the painting among the latest interpretations of the Japanese bridge. Around twenty-five years separate this version from the first more naturalistic series produced in Giverny.
Grace Rainey Rogers Fund
The work entered the collections of the Museum of Modern Art thanks to the Grace Rainey Rogers Fund. The museum page also documents his presence in several exhibitions since 1956.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version MoMA 242.1956, Wildenstein 1932
- The original format of 89.5 × 116.3 cm
- The arch preserved without continuous outline
- Fiery reds balanced by blues and greens
Work sheet
| Title | The Japanese Bridge, MoMA W1932 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | around 1920 -1922 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 89.5 × 116.3 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States |
| Inventory | 242.1956 · Wildenstein 1932 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Rust, orange, golden yellow and deep blue give this reproduction an intense presence. It works on a warm white, terracotta, deep brown or midnight blue wall, with a side light that reveals the material.
