À propos de l’œuvre
Nymphéas, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1907 · Artizon Museum · W1715
The Water Lilies Basin W1715hand painted reproduction
In this Basin with vertical water lilies, there is neither bank nor horizon to stabilize the view. Floating leaves pass through a mirror of water where the willows become deep purple and green masses. A large pale pink area opens in the center like an end-of-day light.
Look at the work
A pool without horizon, shared between floating water lilies and reflections of willows
Water lily groups fall into several bands: a thin line near the top, a light mass in the center, and wider leaves in the foreground. Between them, the reflections descend vertically and compose a depth without traditional perspective.
The reflected sky pink occupies the center and lower left, surrounded by purples, dark blues and greens. The leaves receive turquoise and white accents which detach them from the water. Monet thus paints two spaces at the same time: the nearby surface and the inverted world of reflection.
W1715 removes the landscape around the pool so that the color alone makes you hesitate between depth, surface and reflection.
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.
One of fifteen vertical formats from 1907
The Artizon Museum links this painting to a group of fifteen vertical canvases created in 1907. This unusual format allows reflections of willows to descend for a long time and transforms the pool into an almost abstract space.
A pink light that suggests sunset
The museum notice notes the presence of a pale vermilion which may evoke sunset. This warm area is not a uniform background: it is crossed by mauve, green and blue marks which maintain the sensation of water.
Water lilies organized like visual thresholds
The horizontal leaves interrupt the dark columns of reflections. They periodically bring the gaze to the surface, then let it plunge back between the purple masses. This alternation establishes the entire movement of the composition.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one reference image is displayed. The best exact public file measures 783 × 1075 px; it is kept at this real definition and converted into a real WebP, without artificial enlargement.
Several archipelagos of leaves on a vertical axis
Water lilies are not scattered randomly. Their groupings create successive levels from top to bottom and balance the large flows of reflections placed mainly on the right.
Powder pink, plum purple, blue green and silver gray
The pink area brings light, but the dark values of the willows give depth to the painting. Silver and turquoise accents placed on the leaves connect the two extremes.
Horizontal touches against descending reflections
The brush follows the leaves in small lateral streaks, while the reflected trees take a vertical and flexible direction. The tension between these two gestures makes the surface come alive.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Artizon Museum keeps this 1907 version, listed as Wildenstein 1715, in the collections of the Ishibashi Foundation.
Artizon Museum, W1715
The Water Lilies Basin is an oil on canvas from 1907 measuring 100.6 × 73.5 cm. The painting belongs to the Ishibashi Foundation and is featured in the collection of the Artizon Museum in Tokyo.
Fifteen vertical canvases
The official notice specifies that Monet produced a set of fifteen vertically oriented paintings in 1907. This series focuses on water and prepares the progressive dissolution of the landscape in its later large water lilies.
The Giverny water garden
Monet cultivates his pond and continually transforms it before painting it. Here, however, the garden is not described as a place: no bank appears, and only the water lilies, the light and the reflection of the willows allow us to recognize it.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Artizon Museum and Wildenstein 1715 version
- The original vertical format of 100.6 × 73.5 cm
- The large pink opening kept bright without becoming flat
- Purple reflections and turquoise leaves separated by distinct gestures
Work sheet
| Title | The Water Lilies Basin W1715 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1907 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 100.6 × 73.5 cm |
| Orientation | Vertical |
| Conservation | Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation, Tokyo, Japan |
| Inventory | Wildenstein 1715 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Powder pink, plum purple, blue green, silver gray and midnight blue give this reproduction an enveloping presence. It is suitable for a bedroom, a quiet living room or a reading area with dark wood, velvet and a sober setting.
