60 Artists Magazine October 2019
and early-morning views painted
from a floating studio on the Seine.A LICENSE TO FLATTEN
AND SIMPLIFY
As Monet began to focus more intently
on the effects of light, his composi-
tions became flatter and more frontal,
as in 1890’s The Canoe on the Epte
(below). Here, much of the composi-
tion is comprised of a view directly
into the swirling water. The boat cuts
across the composition as an almost-
flat motif while a band of foliage
takes up the top part of the painting.
The radical flattening and simplifica-
tion were influenced, no doubt, by
Japanese prints, which had become
increasingly popular after trade
with Japan was opened in the 1850s.
There’s also an influence from
photography, particularly in the way
the rowing figure is cropped by the
edge of the canvas. For Monet, the
license to flatten and simplify allowedhim to showcase what interested him
most: the subtle effects of color and
light across the painting’s surface.
As the artist aged, he traveled
less and focused increasingly on his
garden at Giverny. After buying a
conjoining plot of land, he expanded
his pond and built a Japanese bridge.
He imported exotic water lilies, and
the interplay of flowers, sun and
water allowed him to explore the
effects of reflection, depth and dap-
pled light in a long series of views of
the bridge. Mostly square in format,
these compositions, such as Water
Lilies and Japanese Bridge (opposite),
omit the sky and plunge the viewer
into the visual wealth of water and
plants, with the eye anchored by the
strong geometry of the bridge.A LEGACY OF
WATER LILIES
There was more tragedy in the artist’s
life when Alice died in 1912 and hisLEFT
The Canoe
on the Epte
by Claude Monet
ca 1890; 52½ x57½
COLLECTION MUSEU DE
ARTE DE SÃO PAULO ASSIS
CHATEAUBRIAND
PHOTO CREDIT:
EDUARDO ORTEGAOPPOSITE
Water Lilies and
Japanese Bridge
by Claude Monet
1899; oil on canvas,
35 ⅝ x35⁵⁄₁^6
FROM THE PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM:
COLLECTION OF WILLIAM
CHURCH OSBORN, CLASS
OF 1883, TRUSTEE OF
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
(1914–1951), PRESIDENT OF
THE METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM OF ART (1941–1947);
GIVEN BY HIS FAMILY
PHOTO CREDIT: PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMson Jean died the following year.
Monet would spend the remaining
14 years of his life tended by his step-
daughter Blanche. His troubles were
exacerbated by increasing difficulties
with his vision, due to cataracts.
Nevertheless, he pressed on, driven
by an idea he’d had in mind for some
time. “... the temptation came to me
to use this water lily theme for the dec-
oration of a drawing room,” he told the
critic Roger Marx, “carried along the
walls, enveloping all the partitions
with its unity, it would have produced
the illusion of an endless whole, of a
wave with no horizon and no shore;
nerves exhausted by work would have
relaxed there, following the restful
example of those stagnant waters,
and to anyone who would have lived
in that room would have offered a
refuge of peaceful meditation in the
middle of a flowering aquarium.”
Slowly, Monet turned this vision
into reality. Building a large studio to