À propos de l’œuvre
Lilies d'eau (1904, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1904 · donation of 1910 to Le Havre · W1664
Water Lilies W1664hand painted reproduction
A few green leaves and pale flowers float on water saturated with blue, mauve and pink. No horizon fixes the gaze: the surface of the pool becomes the entire painting. Monet offered this painting from 1904 to the city of Le Havre in 1910; it is identified Wildenstein 1664.
Look at the work
The basin without a bank, between surface and depth
The almost square framing removes the bridge, the bank and the direct sky. The water lilies, divided into small groups, alone give scale. Some are clearly placed on the water; others blend into reflections until they become simple colored signs.
Vertical blue-purple streaks suggest the reflected trees, while pink and turquoise passages open the surface. Monet superimposes these directions without enclosing them in a classic perspective: the gaze can read water, reflection and paint at the same time.
W1664 no longer represents a landscape around the basin: the landscape now exists inside the water.
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.
The version given by Monet in Le Havre
In 1910, the artist offered this painting to his hometown. This direct gift, now kept at MuMa, combines one of his most innovative motifs with Monet's Le Havre history.
A work from 1904
The canvas belongs to the phase where Monet focuses his gaze on the sheet of water. Its format of 89 × 93 cm and its Wildenstein number 1664 allow it to be differentiated from the many nearby Water Lilies.
Towards the Water Landscapes of 1909
The museum places the work in the work which leads to the forty-eight Water Landscapes presented by Durand-Ruel in 1909. The gradual disappearance of topographical landmarks announces a more decorative and more abstract painting.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one image is used: the complete view of W1664, preserved as a real WebP of 1,200 × 1,150 px, without artificial enlargement.
Irregular plant islands
The leaves form neither grid nor regular crown. Their gaps and changes in scale create the movement of the gaze, particularly between the lower zone and the center.
Deep blue, mauve, pink and green
Water color results from multiple layers. Cool tones dominate, but pink passages warm up the reflections and prevent the surface from becoming uniform.
Floating keys and vertical lines
The flowers and leaves have short, sometimes thick accents. On the contrary, reflections require longer and more transparent gestures. Their superposition creates the spatial ambiguity specific to the work.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The MuMa of Le Havre dates this painting from 1904, indicates a format of 89 × 93 cm and recalls the artist's gift to the city in 1910; it corresponds to Wildenstein 1664.
The Water Lilies, Wildenstein 1664
This almost square oil on canvas measures 89 × 93 cm. Its arrangement of leaves and reflections makes it possible to identify this particular version in Giverny's vast corpus.
MuMa Le Havre, gift from the artist in 1910
Monet himself offered the work to the city of Le Havre. This direct provenance constitutes an essential landmark of its material history.
The Giverny water garden
Monet transforms a pool that he had converted into a pictorial laboratory. Here, the absence of shore and horizon focuses all attention on reflections, depths and floating flowers.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version given in Le Havre in 1910, Wildenstein 1664
- The almost square format of 89 × 93 cm
- Groups of irregular leaves on mauve blue water
- The coexistence of vertical reflections and floating touches
Work sheet
| Title | Water Lilies W1664 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1904 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 89 × 93 cm |
| Orientation | Almost square |
| Conservation | MuMa - André Malraux Museum of Modern Art, Le Havre, France |
| Inventory | Gift of the artist in 1910 · Wildenstein 1664 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Deep blues and pink accents create an enveloping feeling, ideal in a living room, bedroom or rest area. Light wood, natural linen and bluish gray walls extend its palette without competing with it.
