Lot Essay
Monet began his last major series of views of his water garden at Giverny by exploring once again the transitory effects of light and atmosphere experienced over the course of the day. Previously he had made comprehensive studies of rounded haystacks, poplars against the sky, the facade of Rouen Cathedral, a dramatic cliff overlooking the ocean, a wooded islet of the Seine, the bridges of London and now for the final chapter in his long career he returned to the serial format for the renewal of his art.
It was with the purchase of Giverny in 1890, that Monet began to plan his gardens even receiving a visit from a Japanese gardener. But it was not until 1893 when he bought the strip of land below his property on the other side of the road that he constructed his water garden. The artist discussed its inception: 'It took me some time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for pleasure; I cultivated them without thinking of painting them...A landscape does not sink in to you all at once.'
The water garden in a sense bypassed Monet's long
searches of earlier years for suitable subjects to
paint. Designed and constantly supervised by the
artist himself, and tended by several gardeners,
it offered him a motif which was at the same time
natural and at his own command - nature redesigned
by a temperament. But once again Monet stressed
that his real subject when he painted was the light
and weather. (J. House, Monet: Nature into Art,
New Haven, 1986, p. 31)
By concentrating on the surface of the water, Monet had a multitude of possibilities with color constantly changing according to the play of light and reflections. The delicate surface was then articulated by the placement of the lily pads. He merged thin veils of color with calligraphic gestures suggesting the lily pads floating across the glistening pond. An incredible variety of mood and tone recording the shifting moments of the day was acheived by Monet in this final exploration.
The water flowers are far from being the whole
scene; really, they are just the accompaniment.
The essence of the motif is the mirror of water
whose appearance alters at every moment, thanks
to the patches of sky which are reflected in
it, and which give it its light and movement.
(F. Thiébault-Sisson, Revue de l'Art, pp. 44-45)
Although initially begun in 1897, it was into the turn of the century that Monet intensely worked on this new series of water lily paintings. He viewed the series in total and would not part with a single canvas until the whole series was completed. His dealer Durand-Ruel was constantly offering him an exhibition of this new work, but Monet was adamant that the time was not yet right. In a letter to Durand-Ruel on April 27, 1907 Monet writes:
Dear Monsieur Durand,
Like you I am sorry not to be able to exhibit the
series of Water Lilies this year, and if I have
made this decision, it is because it was not
possible. It may be true that I am very hard on
myself, but this is better than showing things
that are mediocre. And it is not because I want
to exhibit many that I postpone this exhibition,
certainly not, but I really do not have enough
satisfactory ones to put the public to the
inconvenience of coming. I have at most five
or six acceptable canvases, and by the way I
have just destroyed at least thirty, which gave
me a lot of satisfaction.
And again a year later Monet postponed the exhibition due to fatigue and dizziness. It was not until his return from a trip to Venice in October of 1908 that he felt more positive about his work and finally agreed to the exhibition. On January 28, 1909 he wrote to Durand-Ruel 'In any case you can count on me. I will be ready as my journey to Venice had the benefit of making me see my canvases in a better light. I have put aside all those which do not merit being exhibited and the rest will make, I believe, a far from banal exhibition.' So it was finally in May of 1909 that Monet exhibited 48 canvases from this series at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris (the present painting was number 33). The exhibition Les Nymphéas, Séries de Paysages d'eau, was met with great enthusiasm and was eventually extended a further week. Arsène Alexandre, a leading critic of the day reviewed the exhibition.
Here then, insofar as it can be explained by
words, is the essence of these water-landscapes.
M. Claude Monet has painted the surface of the
pond in a Japanese garden where water lilies
bloom; but he has painted only this surface,
seen in perspective, and no horizon is given to
these paintings, which have no beginning or end
other than the limits of the frame, but which
the imagination easily extends as far as it
likes. Therefore, as elements of the painting,
we have only the aquatic mirror and the leaves
and flowers that rest upon it - and then the
surrounding landscape, and of the sky above us.
They are, in a word, paintings of reflections
mingled with real objects, but which harmonise
themselves with them in a marvelous and
capricious diversity. (A. Alexandre, Le Figaro,
ÿ Ma 7y, 1909)
And another critic glowingly wrote:
None of the earlier series...can in our opinion,
compare with these fabulous Water Landscapes,
which are holding spring captive in the Durand-
Ruel Gallery. Water that is pale blue and dark
blue, water like liquid gold, treacherous green
water reflects the sky and the banks of the pond
among the reflections pale water lilies and
bright water lilies open and flourish. Here,
more than ever before, painting approaches music
and poetry. There is in these paintings an
inner beauty, refined and pervasive; the beauty
of a play and of a concert, a beauty that is
both plastic and ideal. (J.L. Vandoyer, La
Chronique des Arts cited in The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Monet's Years at
Giverny: Beyond Impressionism, New York, 1978,
p. 31)
Miss Tully's Monet from 1907 was one of the original 48 canvases included in this highly successful exhibition for the artist. Following the show, the painting remained with the artist until 1914 when he sold it to Sacha Guitry, the actor and prodigious French playwright. After his death in 1957, the painting was sold by his fifth wife, the actress Lana Marconi to Alice Tully in 1960.
The special circular format or tondo seen in Miss Tully's Nymphéas was used by Monet only four times in his lengthy career. The four tondos, all water lily paintings, were in fact, created the year after the artist's destruction of thirty canvases which he felt were overworked and, therefore, not of the highest quality. The delicate surface and fluid brushwork seen in these four tondos reflect Monet's renewed confidence in his painting. Miss Tully's Nymphéas is the only tondo now left in private hands as the other three are in museums: The Dallas Museum of Art (Wildenstein, no. 1729), the Musée Municipal Alfonse Georges Poulain, Vernon, France (Wildenstein, no. 1724) and the Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne, France (Wildenstein, no. 1701).
(fig. 1) Claude Monet. Nymphéas. 1907. Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne
(fig. 2) Claude Monet. Nymphéas. 1908. Musée Municipal Alphonse-Georges Poulain, Vernon
(fig. 3) Claude Monet in his garden in Giverny, Summer, 1904. Philippe Piguet Collection.
It was with the purchase of Giverny in 1890, that Monet began to plan his gardens even receiving a visit from a Japanese gardener. But it was not until 1893 when he bought the strip of land below his property on the other side of the road that he constructed his water garden. The artist discussed its inception: 'It took me some time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for pleasure; I cultivated them without thinking of painting them...A landscape does not sink in to you all at once.'
The water garden in a sense bypassed Monet's long
searches of earlier years for suitable subjects to
paint. Designed and constantly supervised by the
artist himself, and tended by several gardeners,
it offered him a motif which was at the same time
natural and at his own command - nature redesigned
by a temperament. But once again Monet stressed
that his real subject when he painted was the light
and weather. (J. House, Monet: Nature into Art,
New Haven, 1986, p. 31)
By concentrating on the surface of the water, Monet had a multitude of possibilities with color constantly changing according to the play of light and reflections. The delicate surface was then articulated by the placement of the lily pads. He merged thin veils of color with calligraphic gestures suggesting the lily pads floating across the glistening pond. An incredible variety of mood and tone recording the shifting moments of the day was acheived by Monet in this final exploration.
The water flowers are far from being the whole
scene; really, they are just the accompaniment.
The essence of the motif is the mirror of water
whose appearance alters at every moment, thanks
to the patches of sky which are reflected in
it, and which give it its light and movement.
(F. Thiébault-Sisson, Revue de l'Art, pp. 44-45)
Although initially begun in 1897, it was into the turn of the century that Monet intensely worked on this new series of water lily paintings. He viewed the series in total and would not part with a single canvas until the whole series was completed. His dealer Durand-Ruel was constantly offering him an exhibition of this new work, but Monet was adamant that the time was not yet right. In a letter to Durand-Ruel on April 27, 1907 Monet writes:
Dear Monsieur Durand,
Like you I am sorry not to be able to exhibit the
series of Water Lilies this year, and if I have
made this decision, it is because it was not
possible. It may be true that I am very hard on
myself, but this is better than showing things
that are mediocre. And it is not because I want
to exhibit many that I postpone this exhibition,
certainly not, but I really do not have enough
satisfactory ones to put the public to the
inconvenience of coming. I have at most five
or six acceptable canvases, and by the way I
have just destroyed at least thirty, which gave
me a lot of satisfaction.
And again a year later Monet postponed the exhibition due to fatigue and dizziness. It was not until his return from a trip to Venice in October of 1908 that he felt more positive about his work and finally agreed to the exhibition. On January 28, 1909 he wrote to Durand-Ruel 'In any case you can count on me. I will be ready as my journey to Venice had the benefit of making me see my canvases in a better light. I have put aside all those which do not merit being exhibited and the rest will make, I believe, a far from banal exhibition.' So it was finally in May of 1909 that Monet exhibited 48 canvases from this series at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris (the present painting was number 33). The exhibition Les Nymphéas, Séries de Paysages d'eau, was met with great enthusiasm and was eventually extended a further week. Arsène Alexandre, a leading critic of the day reviewed the exhibition.
Here then, insofar as it can be explained by
words, is the essence of these water-landscapes.
M. Claude Monet has painted the surface of the
pond in a Japanese garden where water lilies
bloom; but he has painted only this surface,
seen in perspective, and no horizon is given to
these paintings, which have no beginning or end
other than the limits of the frame, but which
the imagination easily extends as far as it
likes. Therefore, as elements of the painting,
we have only the aquatic mirror and the leaves
and flowers that rest upon it - and then the
surrounding landscape, and of the sky above us.
They are, in a word, paintings of reflections
mingled with real objects, but which harmonise
themselves with them in a marvelous and
capricious diversity. (A. Alexandre, Le Figaro,
ÿ Ma 7y, 1909)
And another critic glowingly wrote:
None of the earlier series...can in our opinion,
compare with these fabulous Water Landscapes,
which are holding spring captive in the Durand-
Ruel Gallery. Water that is pale blue and dark
blue, water like liquid gold, treacherous green
water reflects the sky and the banks of the pond
among the reflections pale water lilies and
bright water lilies open and flourish. Here,
more than ever before, painting approaches music
and poetry. There is in these paintings an
inner beauty, refined and pervasive; the beauty
of a play and of a concert, a beauty that is
both plastic and ideal. (J.L. Vandoyer, La
Chronique des Arts cited in The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Monet's Years at
Giverny: Beyond Impressionism, New York, 1978,
p. 31)
Miss Tully's Monet from 1907 was one of the original 48 canvases included in this highly successful exhibition for the artist. Following the show, the painting remained with the artist until 1914 when he sold it to Sacha Guitry, the actor and prodigious French playwright. After his death in 1957, the painting was sold by his fifth wife, the actress Lana Marconi to Alice Tully in 1960.
The special circular format or tondo seen in Miss Tully's Nymphéas was used by Monet only four times in his lengthy career. The four tondos, all water lily paintings, were in fact, created the year after the artist's destruction of thirty canvases which he felt were overworked and, therefore, not of the highest quality. The delicate surface and fluid brushwork seen in these four tondos reflect Monet's renewed confidence in his painting. Miss Tully's Nymphéas is the only tondo now left in private hands as the other three are in museums: The Dallas Museum of Art (Wildenstein, no. 1729), the Musée Municipal Alfonse Georges Poulain, Vernon, France (Wildenstein, no. 1724) and the Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne, France (Wildenstein, no. 1701).
(fig. 1) Claude Monet. Nymphéas. 1907. Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne
(fig. 2) Claude Monet. Nymphéas. 1908. Musée Municipal Alphonse-Georges Poulain, Vernon
(fig. 3) Claude Monet in his garden in Giverny, Summer, 1904. Philippe Piguet Collection.