À propos de l’œuvre
Nymphéas, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · 1908 · Tokyo Fuji 00426 · W1731
Water Lilies, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum W1731hand painted reproduction
Water with almost no visible depth unfolds in milky blue, yellow green and mauve. A few pink water lilies gather in the lower part, while small light leaves float higher like shards. In this precise version from 1908, Monet greatly reduces the shadows: the surface appears luminous, light and decorative, without losing the vibration of the key.
Look at the work
A bankless pool where pink water lilies emerge from a blue-green mist
Monet removes the horizon, the edge of the pool and all architecture. The gaze enters directly into the water. The leaves concentrate down and to the right, leaving a large, lighter area where fine yellow and purple traces suggest reflections of the sky and vegetation.
The composition remains asymmetrical: a long blue-gray area descends to the left, while the luminous greens diffuse to the center and right. The pink flowers, few in number, serve as stopping points. They give scale and prevent the colored surface from becoming entirely abstract.
In W1731, light does not illuminate the pool from the outside: it appears to form in the water itself.
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 versions painted in 1908
The notice from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum links this painting to the set of fifteen Water Lilies executed in 1908. Monet takes the same fragment of the pool, varying the density of the leaves, the reflections and the level of contrast.
A painting presented at Durand-Ruel in 1909
The work appeared under number 41 in the exhibition "Water Lilies, series of water landscapes" organized in Paris in May 1909. This presentation brought together Monet's recent research on the Giverny basin.
A deliberately very soft clarity
The museum highlights the reduction in the gaps between light and shadow as well as an almost rococo elegance. The reproduction must retain this delicacy: artificially reinforcing the blacks would make the singularity of W1731 disappear.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The single reference image measures 950 × 1067 px. It comes from official notice 00426, corresponds to Wildenstein 1731 and has been converted into a real WebP with its native definition, without artificial enlargement.
A floral group placed in the lower third
The sharpest flowers and leaves remain below the center. The large open area above creates calm in the image and should retain its nuances even in a smaller format.
Mist blue, anise green and powder pink
The colors pass into each other without hard contours. Greenish yellows illuminate the water, blues cool the edges and pinks remain punctual accents.
Thin layers crossed by visible gestures
The pale glazes give depth, then short touches outline leaves and flowers. A faithful copy must preserve this contrast between atmospheric veil and material placed on the surface.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
These landmarks concern precisely the Water Lilies of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, notice 00426 and Wildenstein catalog 1731.
Tokyo Fuji 00426, W1731
This oil on canvas from 1908 measures 101 × 90 cm. The museum links it to number 1731 of Daniel Wildenstein's catalog raisonné and provides a digital image under CC0 license.
Durand-Ruel Gallery, Paris, 1909
The painting was shown in the solo exhibition which revealed Monet's water landscapes to the Parisian public. She appeared there under number 41, within a set thought of as a continuous experience of light.
A documented international history
The notice traces his passage through Durand-Ruel and Bernheim-Jeune, then through collections from Chicago, Dallas and Japan before his entry into the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The exact version of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, notice 00426 and Wildenstein 1731
- The original format of 101 × 90 cm, slightly vertical
- Clear values and transitions without brutal black
- The group of pink water lilies held under the center of the composition
Work sheet
| Title | Water Lilies, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum W1731 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1908 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 101 × 90 cm |
| Orientation | Vertical, close to square |
| Conservation | Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, Hachiôji, Tokyo, Japan |
| Inventory | Notice 00426 · Wildenstein 1731 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
Celadon blue, anise green, mist mauve, powder pink and pearl gray give this hand-painted reproduction a calm presence. The almost square format works above a console, in a bedroom or on a light wall accompanied by natural wood.
